Kingdom Hearts: Oblivion
by SamJaz
Summary: Was going to be a trilogy, but now it's just a pretty decent 'Start Of Darkness' story. Set one year after Kingdom Hearts, this was my first fanfic back when I had no idea what I was doing, but it has some pretty decent moments.
1. Chapter 1

Kingdom Hearts ~ Oblivion

Prologue

***Unknown world***

It was twilight, the sun was sinking behind the horizon, darkness spread across the forest; darkness spread across the clearing, across the unlit fire.

As darkness spread, something in the shadows stirred, a man stepped forward; walking into the moonlight between the trees; cloaked in darkness he was unrecognizable, he stabbed his longsword into the ground as he walked.

"_The war begins."_

He raised his hand and fire burst out, setting a campfire ablaze. He backed off a step and sat, in a black cloak he was unidentifiable, he sat and he waited.

Slowly another figured walked out of the shadows, dressed the same. Stabbing his Katana into the ground next to the other weapon, he sat across from the other man and waited.

"_The light has been veiled."_

Another figure came from the darkness, once more cloaked in black. Falling gracefully from the canopy, he also stabbed his weapon into the ground, a warscythe; he sat at the side of the fire, between the two other companions.

"_The rage of the kingdom will be felt"_

The air whistled as a fourth figure dropped from the sky, landing next to the fire, no sound, no affect on the area, then a broadsword, a great Zanbato dropped next to the others, falling on its side rather than standing into the ground. Ignoring the looks from his companions, he sat across from the third figure.

"_The battle for light and dark begins, yet twilight will reign."_

The second figure then turned to the last;

"_Sometimes you think the end is within your grasp, yet something else begins."_

The third then raised his head

"_The kingdom. The light. The dark. All must be reunited, or all will have been in vain. Things have been set in motion, and the gears of war are grinding. The universe calls for her warriors, and they will answer it, or they will never know the truth of life…"_

The four figures rose and left, melting into the darkness taking their respective weapons, the fire burned out, the darkness rushed in, the logs never burnt, no sign of anyone having ever been there. The first figure looked back into the shadows of the forest.

"_It has begun"_

________________________________________________

Sora vaguely heard someone shout his name a thought drifted across the void that was his mind, _'So not getting up.'_

Again someone shouted his name, _'Still not getting up' _floated across his void.

He then felt a sharp pain on the back of his head, quickly followed by one to his face. He slowly opened his eyes; breaking the darkness of his void, "wha...." he began to ask, before he was interrupted.

"Wake up you lazy bum"

He heard the shout somewhere to his left; He then attempted to work out where he was. _'Alright face down on... a desk... that's it, now where would I have a desk?'_

He lifted his head, the teacher at the front, and what appeared to be writing on the board. A very angry teacher. '_Did I do that part already?'_ Then he looked to his left.

There sat Kairi, one of his best friends, in a school uniform, "Eh? Where am I?"

Kairi sighed, "School, where do you think?"

"Ohh, right..." _'Didn't I work that part out already?'_

Kairi sighed again "Sora you moron… Go on Riku, hit him again…"

He felt another sharp pain in the back of his head. Looking to his right he saw his other best friend, Riku, with a smarmy grin on his face "Welcome back to the world of light!"

Riku, Kairi and Sora began to laugh.

The teacher, Lulu came up to them, "Finished yet?"

The three friends looked rather sheepish.

After settling back into life, or as much as was possible after saving the world, becoming incredibly strong, seeing other worlds, life was never normal. Little did our heroes know, things had only just begun…


	2. Chapter 2

"Say what you want Sora, you deserved that."

Sora, Riku and Kairi were heading home from school that day. Sora, having made the unfortunate mistake of falling asleep during Lulu's class, was nursing an aching head.

"Still think she went over the top, It's her fault I was tired anyway!"

During their year and a half absence, Sora and Riku unfortunately missed out on a years worth of school work.

Kairi laughed at Sora's excuse. "What did you expect? Saving the universe doesn't get you a good grade!"

Because of their adventures the two boys were held back a grade, but since the mainland was so small, there were two year groups to a class. This meant that while Riku remained in the same class as Kairi, Sora was held back.

Riku laughed with his friend, "Hey, you asked to do the catch up work so you could stay with us, idiot!"

Not wanting to be separated from his friends, Sora had volunteered to do catch up work for the missing year. Miraculously, Sora was actually managing it, something that surprised all of his teachers. Sora was never a particularly good student, getting average grades all around, but since his return Sora was not only getting good grades, but _seem to actually be able to sit down and study._ When Tidus pointed this out, Sora asked Kairi about it.

_**- Flashback -**_

"Hey, Kairi, I need your help."

At some point in castle oblivion, Sora and Kairi met their nobodies, and somehow gained their memories. Sora was unconscious for most of the time Roxas was active, so it wasn't so bad, but Kairi took some getting used to having simultaneous memories. Riku assured them that they were still them, but with Sora's more studious nature, he wasn't so sure anymore.

Kairi smiled at him, "Sora, just because you've changed doesn't mean you're not you."

Sora shook his head, smiling. Kairi knew him so well; she already knew the problem before he asked about it. It was no wonder he loved her.

"But even so, didn't I promise you to never change?"

Kairi was surprised as Sora brought up that particular memory, then turned away, sighing.

"You don't get it, do you?"

_**- Back to now -**_

Sora got over himself, "Ah Well, I could do with some ice cream. Wanna race Riku?"

Riku shook his head "And loser gets the bill? Not a chance."

Sora grinned, and put his fists into his armpits, waving his elbows up and down. "BAWK! Chicken! BAWK!"

Riku slapped Sora round the back of the head. "Why would I be a chicken to take a challenge I know is impossible? You can jump over buildings, fly, and even teleport for crying out loud? Who in their right mind would race you?"

Sora stopped, and put one hand on his waist, and the other wagging its index finger. "It's not like that Riku" He said, putting on his best Quistis impression. "Gliding is not the same as flying, in that the former has a slight vertical descent, and the latter has free control of its vertical movement."

Kairi started to giggle, and Riku looked irritated. "Whatever Sora, the point is-"

Sora by now had one arm across his chest and the other down his leg, now imitating Lulu "And Teleportation is the movement of one object from one location to the other instantaneously, whereas a Sonic Step is simply moving very fast, you idiot student."

Riku now reached annoyed, as Kairi started howling with laughter. Riku was about to respond, when Tidus and Wakka came running towards them. "Sora! Riku!"

The four boys turned to each other, as Kairi started to regain her composure.

"'Sup?"

Tidus was the first to speak. "We need two more players for the game tomorrow, you in?"

Riku had nothing planned, but Sora was planning on asking Kairi to watch the game with him. The said girl then spoke "I'll leave you guys to your ball game, later!" with that, she set off at a jog. Sora was about to call after her, when Riku simply replied "Sure, Okay, Sora?"

Sora turned back to the group. "Sure you need me? What about the rest of the team?"

Wakka shook his head, frowning. "Da Boys ate some baad sushi last night, dey aint in no position to play mon. "

Tidus responded "Me and Wakka had the shrimp, so we were okay. Come on Sora, We've got Lunas and Irvine playing, but they won't be any good!"

Sora sighed. Irvine was a womaniser since he was six, and only stopped the open groping after it was made clear that boys at fourteen can't get away with that. He was now seventeen, Sora and Kairi's age. He still managed the odd grope here and there, but didn't touch Kairi. He didn't dare.

Especially after what happened with those guys from the Crimson Waves.

Lunas came from another one of those said islands, his dark hair meant that he didn't stand out as much as a transfer student normally would, but the kid was fast, even in water. It was a surprise that he wasn't already on the team.

"Alright, but keep Irvine in defence and put Riku as keeper."

Tidus nodded. "Me and Lunas strikers, you and Wakka can be in midfield."

The four boys nodded. It was a good line up. Tidus was faster that Sora in the water, and Wakka could deliver a powerful shot, despite his slower speed. Riku had good reach and reflexes which made him a great goalie, and Irvine was… accurate…ish…

Sora was a decent all-rounder, so It made sense to put him in a position where he could attack and defend. "Alright, anything else I should know? Who we're playing against?"

Tidus smiled. "We, The Destiny Stars, will be playing against the Crimson Waves!"

Sora and Riku smiled as they remembered what happened during last years game.

_**- Another Flashback -**_

"Damn, that redhead had one sweet ass!"

Sora and Riku were on their way to the concession stand during half time, but they stopped as they overheard the conversation between the six members of the Crimson Waves.

"Yeah, I'd hit that."

"Bet she'd be pretty easy too!"

"Bet she's got a boyfriend though."

"So? Sweet ride like her would probably ditch him for these abs!"

Sora, having heard enough, approached the team, Riku following.

"Hey, I don't appreciate how you're talking about my friend."

The team looked to the idiot that dared oppose them. Some shorty who obviously can't use a comb. The team snickered. "Oh? And what're you gonna do about it?"

Sora gritted his teeth. It'd been barely a month since he and Riku had defeated Xemnas, yet he was stuck having to put up with this crap. _'If I could use the Keyblade, Or even just a Fire- No, not on these idiots.'_

The captain smirked. "Lost your nerve eh? Some friend you are, All words and no action."

Riku was getting concerned as Sora's shoulders began to shake. "Sora…" He warned.

The captain then pushed Sora in the chest, unconcerned that he didn't even budge. "That woman deserves a better man, though she's probably a total bi-"

He was cut short by a punch to the face, knocking him to the ground. Sora picked him up by his uniform. **"Don't…You…EVER…TALK ABOUT HER LIKE THAT!"**

One of his teammates rushed in to help, but was quickly dispatched by Riku's kick. The other four decided to jump them, and the aggressive argument became a fight. The door opened and the six reserve members stepped out, "Guy's? What's going o-?" The player who spoke was cut short as a teammate was thrown against the wall, and the six reserve players rushed in to the fight, and it descended into a brawl.

That night, Riku and Sora walked home from the police station, both with bust lips, covered in bruises, but they felt good. They'd defended Kairi, had a good scrap, but most of all, they kept their promise to the King.

They didn't use their superhuman strength, magic, or, most of all, their Keyblades.

_**- And We're back -**_

Wakka caught their grins and growled. "Hey! Don't you go doin' what youses did last year, da? They had to call da match and we lost because of dat! You're on da team now, another scrap would gets us all disqualified!"

Tidus nodded. "Even if they deserved it, The island's honour is at stake here. Cool it."

Sora and Riku nodded. They'd been talking for so long that the sun was starting to set, you could see the setting flame in the east, it was really beautiful-

East?

Tidus, Wakka and Riku followed Sora's gaze, and matched his horror as they all came to the same conclusion.

_The school was burning down._

Sora immediately took charge, "Wakka, Riku, Go stop the fire from spreading, Tidus and I will get help, we're faster!"

Wakka just stood there, Horror spreading across his face. "Miss Lulu's still in there…"

Sora froze. That was right, Lulu taught extra classes for the younger students after school. That changed things. "Riku, take Wakka and Tidus and get help!" With that, Sora blurred, and sped towards the school. Tidus and Wakka watched in shock at the sheer speed their classmate was reaching, as Riku began running towards the village and shouted at them to come on.

As Sora approached the school, he realised that it was already an inferno. Some of the kids were already outside, but Sora knew that the class was bigger than that. "Damn, _Protera!_" A silver skin flowed around Sora, protecting him from the heat as he charged headfirst into the flames.

Sora rushed up the stairs, dodging the debris, as he searched for survivors. He stumbled as he saw a little boy, unconscious from the smoke. Sora picked him up, casting _"Protera!"._ Hoping for the best, Sora jumped out of the window, laid the boy down, checked he was breathing, and leaped back inside.

However, the heat damaged floors gave away under his weight and he fell through. He corrected himself as he landed on the ground floor, just as his shield gave away and a falling piece of rubble hit his head, knocking him down.

"Guh… Protera!" But no magic came out. Sora reached the back of his head, and felt the blood. As he inhaled the fumes, he thought he saw someone in a dark robe approaching him. He held out his hand "help... Help me…"

THAT IS WHY I AM HERE

Sora didn't hear the words, but he felt them in his head. The figure walked through the smoke, and Sora saw him clearly, and choked at the figures skeletal features.

WHEN THE PAIN BECOMES TOO MUCH TO BEAR, THEN I WILL HELP YOU, KEYBEARER SORA.

Sora was terrified as he realised what the apparition was, and was just about to give up hope, when

"HE'S NOT YOURS YET! _LIFE! HEAL! REGEN! CURE! AURA!"_

Sora felt his body flush the carbon monoxide from his lungs, and the strength return to is muscles as he healed. Then he felt nothing as a green glow surrounded him. He turned to his saviour, seeing a young man around his height, but with dark hair and a familiar face, the bottom half covered by a cloth mask. A smart idea, considering the smoke.

"L-Lunas?" Sora spoke

"No time, GET OUT OF HERE!" and with this, he grabbed Sora and threw him out of the window. Sora flipped in the air and landed against a tree, just in time to see his rescuer pull down his mask, revealing a grin, as he disappeared in a puff of smoke. _'Definitely Lunas, what the hell?'_

Sora looked down and saw Miss Lulu and her class all safe. Sora sighed with relief and relaxed on a branch. He turned to look towards the village and almost fell off the branch as he saw a familiar sight, one that still haunted his nightmares since that day when he was fourteen.

"No… NO WAY!!"

Riku was rushing through the village as the sky darkened. It was already evening, but this was not the natural darkness of an autumn night. Riku looked up in horror as the sky turned an evil, dark shade of purple that he knew far too well, one that still haunted not only his nightmares, but his waking memories of guilt and pain. He was reminded of the forces that twisted his reason, destroyed his sanity, stole his body and drove him down into oblivion.

Tidus and Wakka turned to Riku, "Come On! We need he- WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?" Tidus cried, suddenly noticing the sky.

As dark puddles appeared amongst the ground, Riku's eyes were filled with hatred, and a winged weapon appeared in his hands. His voice echoed in the power he concealed from his friends for over a year as he replied;

"My Problem…"

End Chapter 2

Okay, I'm going to introduce myself now. I'm SamJaz, and this story has been three years in the making. It was originally going to be a game, but as it grew and grew we realised that it was going to be far too epic for us to program, so we decided to make it a sprite comic, when we realised that it was far to epic to even sprite. For a while it looked like this story was going to die, when my friend, Ravenwingcorps, Emailed me about his Naruto Fanfic, One Eye of the Demon. Until then, I had a prejudice against Fanfics, But I read it, and told him that it could be improved. He challenged me to do better, so I rewrote one of the chapters he sent me. I was then hired as a Beta Writer, fleshing out his stories into something better. I was telling my brother about this, who was the head of the failed game project, and he told me that instead of helping my friend with his story, I should be writing my own, Kingdom Hearts Oblivion. So I got Ravenwingcorps to write a chapter for me to edit. That stayed on my computer for a couple of weeks he told me to write the first drafts myself, so, eventually, I did. So, Hey! Here it is, hope you like it.

Just to explain, this story takes place around a year after KH:II. Sora maintained his level, but kept quiet about it, so Riku and Kairi are the only ones on the island who know. I'm taking the letter from the king that Sora got at the end of KH:II as a request to keep quiet about the heartless and Keyblade, and I'll be ignoring Birth By Sleep, Coded, and 352 days, but rest assured, I'll be going into crazy depth.

I was originally going to spend a lot longer getting to this point, but I reckoned that if I found it boring to write, then you'd find it boring to read, so I skipped right to the chase. Hope you like it!

And before you ask, I already have the plot thought out, and I have a team behind me brainstorming, so please no suggestions on what to write next, I will not listen to them. Any advice on how to improve my writing style, particularly for the fight scenes, would be appreciated, as you'll see in the next chapter.


	3. Chapter 3

Sora rushed across the island as fast as he could. _'Heartless?'_ he thought, _'What the hell are heartless doing here?'_ He gathered all the knowledge he knew of them so far, and he could only come up with one explanation.

Someone's manipulating them.

Cursing, Sora increased his speed.

"RRAARRGGH!!" Tidus sliced through another one of the black monsters. They'd been fighting for ten minutes now, but he'd only just killed his fourth monster. Wakka wasn't doing so good either.

Riku, on the other hand, wasn't even counting. He just mowed strait through them with practiced ease. Tidus began to get an idea of what Riku was doing during those months he was missing, so was that why Sora was so fast now?

Tidus was dragged out of his thoughts as darkness exploded behind his head. A young man slightly older than him was stood there, holding a polearm over Tidus's head. "Get your head in the game Tidus!" The man pulled out a red sword and passed it to him. "Try this on for size."

Tidus took the weapon, swinging it into the nearest Shadow he saw. To his surprise, he felled it with a single blow.

"Hey hey HEY! How's 'bout bringin' some o' dat over 'ere!" The dark haired young man smiled, and threw a blitzball with flame decorations over to Wakka. He threw it, and saw that it caught fire along the way, engulfing the target in flames. To Wakka's surprise, it didn't burn him to touch the flames. "'Tank You!"

Lightning flashed, and Tidus recognised the man who helped them. "Lunas? What the hell?"

Lunas sighed, throwing half a dozen knives in one direction, each one finding their mark. "I'm not from these Islands. Fight while we talk." As he sliced through a couple more shadows.

Kairi, however, had collapsed. She dreamt that she was in some strange place with stained glass floors, and a voice giving her orders. When she woke up, she seemed to be holding a Keyblade that she didn't recognise. It had a green handle and a white blade, with the emblem of a heart in the head. Seeing how the heartless were attacking the town that was her home, she stood up, gripped her new weapon, and charged into battle, as she had done over a year ago.

Sora, however, wasn't headed for the town where the main battle was. He knew that the centre of the dark mass wasn't were the trouble was. He gritted his teeth. Heartless weren't smart enough to use a distraction. This only proved him right. Heartless would just attack strait out. _They wouldn't use his parents as bait._

He was right, as when he got home, he found it surrounded with some kind of soldiers, each with a kind of power armour and a battle rifle. They were guarding the house, and Sora saw the one thing that he really did not want to see.

A humanoid heartless was interrogating his parents.

Well, Sora assumed it was interrogating his parents. Mom and Dad were tied up, and the heartless was lording it over them, while Mom looked scared and Dad looked angry. Sora came up with a plan to save them.

He would charge right in and stab that heartless right in the face.

Realising that this plan lacked finesse, however, Sora curled himself into a ball, but then realised that he couldn't transform into his Final Forme while in his school uniform. Cursing, he tried to come up with another plan, and he smiled when he came up with one that worked.

"Dammit! Whare's Sora?"

Riku was leading the defence of the village. Kairi was supporting him, alongside Wakka, Tidus, so-called-'Lunas', and a few others, including the Village Chief. Surprisingly, Chief Mau was doing quite well with his fishing spear, destroying several heartless in a single blow. Tidus, catching up with his new blade, offered a suggestion.

"Maybe he got caught in the fire..?"

Lunas, or not, shook his head. "No, I got him out of there fine. The only reason that he wouldn't be here would be if something else was in…more…danger…"

Realisation sunk in as Mau gave the order. "Riku, Kairi, go find Sora, look at his house."

"Right," Kairi set of, but Riku hesitated.

"But, what about you guys?"

"_IFRIT!" _The man who was not Lunas punched the earth, and the great fire demon rose from the earth, incinerating dozens of heartless. It then disappeared, but Riku got the message, and chased after Kairi.

SWOOSH

A dark cloud passed strait through the ranks of the soldiers, who turned and opened fire on the intruder. It looked like a heartless, but it was shaped like a human running on all fours. It then jumped back, and kicked the first soldier in the helmet, then began punching, landing several blows to the grunts chest. It then tackled the second soldier, punched him in the face through the visor, knocking him out instantly. Without even pausing for breath, the dark blur sped into the house, tackling the heartless, and began to slash in a mad frenzy.

The heartless, however, smashed the dark creature with a shield, knocking it back. The creature then shed its dark skin, revealing the young man inside.

"SORA!?" Both of his parents cried out in unison.

"Hold on!" Sora was now on his feet holding the Keyblade. He looked at his opponent and remembered. "Vexen?"

The heartless laughed. "Vexen?I have never gone by that name. Even when I had my body, my name was always Even!"

Sora nodded in recognition. So it was Vexen's heartless. That meant that the other twelve were involved somehow. Well, Xeanhort's heartless was dead, Sora was Roxas' heartless, and Sora doubted that they'd let Axel back in. "What does the organisation want this time?"

Sora's parents were flabbergasted. _'What? Sora knows this monster?'_

Their fears were confirmed when the monster replied; "We serve the one who returned our minds to us, that's all."

Sora grunted. _'They've got new boss, one that can make heartless think like nobodies, and also has an army with techno-armour and guns. Great.'_

Sora span behind Even, executing a perfect Reversal. However, a Pillar of Ice appeared behind him, blocking Sora's attack. "I'm not falling for that again, not after Axel."

Sora thought about Axel's betrayal, on how he had executed Vexen back in Castle Oblivion. He decided to take another page out of the nobody's book. _"Firagun!" _Sora was glad that he'd practiced his magic over the past year as flames engulfed his opponent. The flames were killed out as a wave of freezing water pulsed from the heartless, knocking Sora back against the wall. Even suddenly blurred, and was suddenly crushing Sora against the wall with his shield. "Hughrah!", and Sora coughed up blood.

"SORA!!" His parents were bound by cords of darkness, and were helpless to help their suffering son.

Dispelling the Keyblade, Sora lifted both hands to push back the crushing shield, but Even was forcing his entire body weight into it. Grunting, Sora managed to get enough leeway to squeeze a foot into the gap, and kicked the heartless away from him. Sora fell to catch his breath, as Even aimed his shield.

"_Icicle Spear!"_ A dozen shards of ice shot out at Sora.

Fortunately, Sora summoned the Keyblade in time to slice through the first wave, and held out his left hand, casting _"Reflera!" _The barrier blocked the attacks headed for him, but launched them back at the caster, who absorbed them with glee.

"Have you lost your cool, Keybearer?" Even sneered, "Did you honestly forget that I, the Chilly Academic, can absorb Ice spells?" But Sora was already rushing for him. He stooped low, then swung up, putting all of his force into the rising slash of his blade. Even dodged this attack, but realised too late that it was a feint as Sora brought the Keyblade crashing down through his head. He grinned, then was sent flying as the shield knocked into his jaw.

"Did you forget?" Even growled as the wound down his chest and face healed. "I'm a Heartless; you can't kill us that easily."

"But I can."

Even twisted round in time to block Riku's attack. "You!"

Riku smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. "Sorry, do I know you?"

Even knocked Riku back. "Castle Oblivion, I created a clone of you based on the data I gathered when we first met."

Riku shook his head. "Sorry, I don't have memory to waste on old geezers."

A vein pulsed across the Heartless's forehead, as Kairi ran to Sora. "Huh…Huh… Sora…ha…up…upstairs is the… huff… huff… boss…" Kairi stood up strait, having caught her breath. "We'll take care of this, you go get the boss."

"But… But how do you know?"

Kairi shook her head. "I don't know how I know, I just know, GO!" she exclaimed, pushing Sora towards the stairs. Grudgingly, Sora rushed up the stairs as Kairi freed his parents and Riku exchanged blows with the organisation member.

As Sora ran, he thought, _'Why would someone with control over the organisation attack my house without destroying it?'_ Revenge? Unlikely, or his parents would already be dead. To boast their strength? Then why bring Vexen? He's not the strongest or the most impressive member, nor did he have much of a connection with Sora as the other members, such as Saïx, or Marluxia. Hell, even Xigbar would have been a better choice, and either way, why would the boss not join the fight?

The answer was simple. Because he wants something. _'What does he want?'_ Sora thought, reaching the landing. _'Something you have'._ Sora turned to his room. _'What like?'_ He quickened his pace as time seemed to slow down as Sora thought faster and faster. _'Something you got on your journey.' _Sora reached the door to his bedroom. _'Something he could use against you.'_ Sora broke the door down with his shoulder, as his thoughts reached a conclusion.

"Ah, Hello Sora."

There stood a young man in his twenties dressed in a white suit. His shoulder length blonde hair was perfectly groomed, and his black shirt didn't have a single crease.

"Allow me to introduce myself. My Name is Typhoon."

Sora looked at the intruders hands.

'_Something you got on your journey'_

In his left hand was a small sack, the size of a hand, which held all of Sora's Keychains.

'_Something he could use against you.'_

However, what was in Typhoons right hand was much worse.

'_Some kind of weapon.'_

Typhoon raised his black handled Keyblade to give Sora a better look. "Typhoon of Twilight, a Keybearer, like yourself."


	4. Chapter 4

"Yes, just as you have the Key to the Kingdom, I have the Key to Twilight".

Sora stood in shock. The idea that there could be other Keyblades other than his, Riku's and the kings had never occurred to Sora. Yeah, Riku had given Kairi that flower thing back in Castle Oblivion, but I wasn't a true key, seeing as it had none of the abilities of the Keyblade. Sora pulled himself together and glared at his foe.

"So, why do you have a Keyblade?" Sora asked, moving around the room.

"Why do you?" replied Typhoon, following Sora's rotating pattern, both locking gazes. "Surely the Keyblade chooses its wielder."

"Why did it choose you?"

"I'd ask you the same if I didn't already know." Typhoon's snide smile grew slightly. "You were just the messenger boy, yet you impressed the Keyblade with the strength of your heart so much that it abandoned its true master for you." Typhoon tilted his head slightly. "How is Riku about that? Is he still sore about you stealing his birthright?"

"We got over it." Sora glared, not liking how much this guy knew.

"Good for you." Typhoon seemed genuinely happy. "It's not good when business destroys friendships, and it's best when that can be avoided."

By now they had both switched positions, and Typhoon waved. "Well, it was nice talking with you, but I really need to be off, so I'll be taking this and-"

He was cut off by Sora's attack. "Hey, Hey! Why so aggressive?"

"You attack my island…" Sora was seething in rage. "You break into my home, you threaten my family, and you steal my possessions!?" Sora gave Typhoon a look that only dead men have seen, just before their enemies gave them that look. "I will KILL YOU!!"

"Well that's hardly and eye for an eye…" Typhoon responded, parrying Sora's blow. He pocketed the Keychains and gripped his blade with both hands. "Have at you then."

Sora fought like a berserker, rapidly unleashing a flurry of blows, not caring what he had to cut through to get to his foe, be it wall, furniture, roof or floor. Typhoon, on the other hand, calmly parried the blows, deftly dodging the more wild strikes. "Come on Sora," Typhoon said, parrying another violent blow. "You can't hope to fight me like this, I'm in control of the situation and you can't even control yourself-UGH!"

Looking down, Typhoon saw that Sora had just rammed his knee into his stomach, and got the back of his head smashed in with the hilt of the Kingdom Key for his troubles. He quickly rolled out of the way of Sora's next attack, stabbing strait through where his head was.

"You're actually serious about killing me aren't you?"

Sora just stood with his head down, the rage visibly rising from his body. _'I didn't think that actually happened.'_ "Very well, I'll retreat for now, and you can have your Keyblades back." He said aloud, tossing the sack. Sora caught it, but didn't relent. He raised his Keyblade, pointing it at Typhoon. _"Blizzaragun!"_

However, Typhoon as already out of the window. Rushing after him, he saw Typhoon and his soldiers rush into a dark portal, not unlike the ones used by the organisation. Seeing it close, Sora calmed down, at least visibly, and he looked inside the sack Typhoon had returned to him, and growled, rooting through it.

"That Son of a-"

"Sora sounds happy." Even remarked, after hearing Sora's profanity from upstairs. He looked at his opponents, who were catching their breath. While Riku easily had the upper hand before, now the fatigue was setting in. Even though it was two on one, Even was a heartless, and could go for much longer.

"You know," he said in a superior, mocking tone. "Anyone with any intelligence could see where this fight is going. You might as well run away no-GAH!!" The heartless looked down to see a red, spiked chakram poking through his chest, as the flames began to spread. "Dammit, again you traitor!?" But his attacker was not Axel, but Sora, with the Bond of Flame.

"Thought it would be appropriate." Sora said, as he sliced the Keyblade strait up through the Heartless's head as he was engulfed in flames. Even screamed as he was reduced to ashes, but the fire didn't spread to the house.

"You guys okay?" Riku and Kairi nodded in agreement.

"SORA!!"

Sora turned just in time to see his mother grab him in a crushing hug. His father, on the other hand just walked in and stood further back.

That night, Sora had to explain everything. He had no choice, and his parents were shocked at all Sora had been through. Riku frowned at the knowledge of a new Keybearer, one with the power to control the heartless, and who had enough political control over a group of soldiers. After he'd finished, Riku asked what Typhoon did to Sora, explaining the outburst.

Sora glared at the floor. "He took the Keychains."

"Well, that's not so bad…" Riku began

"Oblivion, Oathkeeper, Winners Proof, Two Across, Fatal Crest, Ultima and Fenrir are gone." Sora replied.

"So, they your strongest then?" Sora's dad asked.

"Some of them are, but that's not it."

"The Keychains come about from forging strong emotional bonds with people Sora's fought alongside." Kairi explained, "They're all Sora has to remind him of those friends…"

Sora's eyes didn't leave the floor. He didn't want anyone to see just how angry he was.

"Well, what're you gonna do about it?"

"Honestly dad?" Sora replied, "I want to get off this world and hunt him down."

His father nodded. "And then?"

Sora thought for a minute and, not wanting to lie, answered "Beat the crap out of him and get them back."

"Hmph, and how do you suggest doing that?"

Sora was silent.

"I could try to open the corridors of darkness again..."

"No Riku." Sora looked at him. "You worked damn hard to get rid of the darkness's hold on you, don't you dare throw that away."

Riku stood up. "What do you suggest then!?"

Sora stood up to face his friend "I. Don't. Know!"

"Gummi ship."

Everyone turned to Kairi, who'd just spoken. "We could build a Gummi ship, Sora knows how."

Sora shook his head, "I only designed them, it was Chip and Dale-"

"Do you even know how easy it is?" Riku interrupted. "You get two blocks, push them together, and they stick to each other! Then you just put on some engines and a cockpit, throw in some guns and wings, and you're done!

"You seem to know a lot."

"I was on Hook's ship, remember?" Riku Sighed. "Thing is, we're we supposed to get Gummi blocks from on _this_ island…"

Eventually Sora went to bed. It was late, so Riku stayed in Sora's room and Kairi slept on the couch. Riku phoned his parents, who passed the message onto the village chief, Mau.

Sora sighed. Mau had been looking after Kairi since she'd washed up on this island over a decade ago. He'd red in the Ansem reports that he'd sent a Princess of Heart to the Keyblade bearer, so Sora put two and two together, but he'd never got around to telling Kairi.

"Hey, Sora, you awake?"

"Huh?" Sora rolled over to face his friend, who was lying on a nearby futon. "Oh, sure, what's up?"

"About today,-"

"What about it?"

Sora was still shook up over the loss of his Keyblades, so Riku decided to skip to the second topic he wanted do discuss. "Kairi's got a Keyblade."

Sora rolled over to face the ceiling. "Yeah, I know. It seems to be a Real Keyblade, like mine, yours, the kings, or-" Sora stopped, frowning.

Riku nodded. "So that makes five. Kingdom, Darkness, Light, Twilight, and Kairi's."

Sora shook his head. "I'm not sure that's it…"

"Hm?"

Sora closed his eyes, as if thinking of the right words. "The kings Keyblade is more like mine than it is yours, but Kairi's Keyblade looks like a good version of the Keyblade of dark."

Riku nodded. "Benevolent against Malevolent huh?"

Sora smiled. "Yeah, kinda, but think about it, Your blade is black and red, all jagged and with a heart shaped key-bit-thingy… HEAD, that's the word."

Riku leaned back at this. "Ha. And Kairi's is white and green, smoother, but with the same heart based head… So you think that her Keyblade is the Keyblade of Light, since it's shaped the same but coloured different to my Dark?"

Sora nodded. "Yeah, that's about it." Sora frowned. "Dunno what that makes the Kings Keyblade though."

"Not the Keyblade of light," Riku answered, "Simply a Keyblade similar to yours. Call it something else, I dunno, Throne? Crown?"

Sora laughed, "Yeah, Throne'll do."

They both laughed like idiots for a while, but eventually Sora asked "Hey, Riku?"

"Hm?"

"Think we should tell Kairi?"

"Tell her what?"

"Where she came from, why she's here, you know, her past?"

Riku sat up at this, "Wait, You Know?"

Sora was surprised. "Don't You?"

Riku shook his head. "How would I know? How do you know?"

Sora smiled, having got one over his friend. "Ansem Reports, didn't your read them?" Riku shook his head, and Sora explained; "In his experiments, Ansem found a young girl in Radiant Garden with an exceptionally pure heart. A Princess of Heart in fact."

"Kairi."

"Mm." Sora nodded. "To try and establish a link between the Keyblade and the princesses, he sent her to the world where the Keybearer was, having wiped her memories."

"You?"

"Or you, I was just the messenger boy at the time, remember?"

"Keyblade chose you in the end." Riku laid back down on his futon, hands behind his head. "So that's why…"

"Why what?"

"Oh, she just always seemed a lot closer to you than she was to me." Riku chuckled. "Heck, I think she was probably slightly afraid of me when we were younger."

This was Sora's turn to sit bolt upright. "What? Why?"

Riku turned to his friend. "The Ansem reports were written by Xeanhort right? Ansem himself only wrote the first one and the secret reports." Sora nodded. "So that means that it was Xeanhort who wiped Kairi's memories and kicked her off her home world." Riku smiled ironically. "Which explains why she only hung out with me if you were there, since I reminded her of him…"

"Kairi doesn't feel that way Riku." Sora looked offended at Riku's accusations against Kairi.

"Never said she did, or at least not now." Riku sighed. "I'm talking about when we were _younger_ younger, back when she first came to the island?"

Sora thought back to those childhood days. He was so innocent back then, he wouldn't have even considered looking for repressed pain in people he met, something that was almost second nature to him now. "Oh, yeah, I guess she was kinda like that at first, wasn't she?"

"And you helped her." Riku smiled. "I'm telling you man, she likes you."

"She likes you too Riku." Sora replied with a smile.

Riku's jaw dropped in shock, sighed and rolled over, away from his friend. "Idiot…"

Not understanding what he'd done wrong, Sora also went to sleep."


	5. Chapter 5

Sora found himself standing in a field of grass. There was an earth path, so he followed it.

After walking for some time, he found a large, square hole. Looking into it, Sora could see some foundations laid within the pits depths. Around half of the stone base was missing.

"Pretty cool, huh?"

Sora span around, seeing a familiar face.

"Roxas!?"

The blonde boy smiled. "Kinda sorta not really, but yeah, that's me name." Sora frowned, this wasn't the Roxas he knew.

"And you'd be right."

Sora froze. How the hell-

"Do I know what you're thinking? It should be pretty obvious."

Sora thought for a moment, then realisation hit in.

"Exactly, I am you."

Sora nodded. "Yeah, and I am you, that sort of thing, but you're not my Nobody are you?"

"No, but he was based on me." Roxas smiled, "Bit quiet though for my liking."

Sora walked over to the other person. "Then what are you?"

Roxas' smile grew into a grin. "I told you, I am"

"Apart from me, which is only half true, isn't it?"

"Good to see you using your grey matter for once," Roxas began. "If you want to be pragmatic, I guess I'm technically a defence mechanism."

"Uh, what?"

Roxas facepalmed. "Look, let's just say I'm what deals with all the stuff you don't want to deal with in here, okay?"

"Here being my head, right."

"You catch on. Welcome to Psyche, the manifestation of your, well, Psyche."

Sora looked around. "Cool… So, why am I here?"

Roxas smile returned, "Philosophically or Geographically?"

"I'm dreaming, so neither."

"Hey! Someone's finally learning Cynicism!"

Sora frowned, "So would anyone if they'd been what I'd been through."

Roxas moved in close to Sora's face. "Really? But you were fine until today…"

Sora sidestepped. "I was talking about today. And Right Now, now that I think about it."

"Fair point." Roxas shrugged. "You're here because you want answers and you need help getting them, so you might as well fire away."

"Alright then," Sora pointed his thumb over to the hole "What the hell is that?"

Roxas smiled and walked over to it, "Look again, maybe you'll figure it out." Sora, confused, walked over to the pit, and gasped.

_The foundations had grown._

They weren't finished yet, but unlike before, almost three quarters of the foundations were laid. "This whole world represents your Psyche." Roxas explained. "Any change in here only happens because of a change in you. So Sora," Roxas turned to Sora, asking, "What is this hole?"

"Foundations… Foundations to what?"

"Dunno, but it's gonna be big undertaking. You know what that means right?" Sora nodded, but Roxas explained anyway, "It means that there is gonna be a big undertaking in you throughout the near future." Sora turned to the blonde, who continued; "These whole fields were originally pure, untainted, innocent, with a path leading nowhere but forward." Roxas smiled. "That was you. Now, imagine what it'll be like once this thing is finished."

'_Land surrounding something big.'_ "So I'm gonna be losing my innocence soon, huh?"

Roxas stared as Sora, then laughed. "Soon? SOON?" He seemed absolutely hysterical. "Sora… You… You really think that… HAHAHA!"

"What's so funny?"

Roxas uncurled, wiping a tear from his eye. "Sora, you began to lose your innocence a long time ago, when this road appeared,"

Sora glanced at the road. "So… When did that appear?"

"You tell me Sora." Roxas smiled evilly. "After all, this isn't your first time here…"

Realisation struck, and Sora span to face the other. "So, I lost my innocence when I killed Xeanhort's Heartless?"

"Close, it was actually when Riku betrayed you, giving you the tangible goal of defeating him and saving Kairi."

Sora nodded. It made sense, which would explain why the loss of innocence too the form of a road. "So then, what about the hole?"

Roxas smiled. "Oh, that started around the time you met Axel the second time around. He was a good influence. Magnificent Bast-"

"He manipulated me and everyone around him to meet his own ends."

Roxas grinned. "They normally do, but if you hate him so much, why do you still carry the Keychain he gave you?"

Sora was fazed by this direct question, but answered "I-I keep all of my Keyblades…"

"Then why'd you use it against Even? Something like Photon Debugger, or Sleeping Lion would have done the job just as well."

"I-I…"

"Is it because Irony feels so good? Or is it because you actually admired his skill? Don't bother lying to me; you know that lying to yourself doesn't help in the long run."

"I… I…" Sora sighed. "Yeah, I guess I did admire him. Even though he was a jerk, he always kept his cool, and he came through when it really mattered…"

Roxas slapped Sora on the back. "There, now was that so hard?" He grinned, and continued. "Now Sora, what do you really want to know?"

Sora frowned, "You can't help me with that."

Roxas folded his arms. "Try me."

Sora sighed. "I want to get off this planet, alright?"

Roxas grinned. "Easy. I'll tell you how…"

Sora sat bolt upright. His alarm hadn't gone off yet, and Riku was still asleep. Looking out of the window, Sora saw the sun was rising. Getting dressed once more into his old combat fatigues, Sora climbed out of the window and ran to the beach.

By noon, Riku and Kairi were looking for Sora. He wasn't anywhere in town, and his boat hadn't left the mainland. "Dammit Sora…" Riku groaned, "Where the hell are you?"

"Maybe he swam to the island…"

Riku slapped his head. He hadn't even thought about it. "Nice one Kairi, You go check it out."

Kairi nodded and ran for the boats. As Riku watched her leave he thought _'Damn Sora, what're you up to?'_

Kairi found Sora on the far side of the island, working on something.

"Hey, what're you doing?"

Sora turned to her voice. "Oh hey! Come over here!"

Kairi walked over to Sora as he turned back to his work. "Everyone's worried ab…out…you… Where did you get those?"

Sora turned to Kairi, face inches from hers, with a huge grin on his face. "Got the idea last night!" He turned back to his work, and continued; "Gummi blocks appear on worlds that the heartless attack. Personally, I reckon that those black puddles form Gummi blocks, which would explain why they can fuse together, and why they have powers." Kairi saw the separate piles of the blocks. There was one large jumbled pile, and several smaller piles of the same block, as Sora continued his explanation, "This is the second time this worlds been attacked by the heartless, so where were all the Gummi's?"

Kairi suddenly understood, "All rain flows to the ocean…"

"That's right! It's so simple, I don't get why I didn't think of this sooner!" Sora seemed to having a Doctor Who moment. "Probably why most of the Gummi blocks we've found so far have been near water!" Sora seemed almost manic. "With this, we can get off the world!

"And then what?"

Sora stopped what he was doing and turned to Kairi, who seemed upset. "You're gonna go, get yourself into a load of battles, fight that Typhoon person and then what?" Kairi seemed genuinely worried about Sora. "Why do you always have to go on without me?"

Sora was stunned then managed to get his thoughts together. "Because it's for my sake."

"Huh?"

Sora stood up, amazed at how the words were forming in his head. "All the battles I've fought so far, everything I've been through," He looked into Kairi's eyes, "Every single time I've been fighting other people battles or for someone elses sake, but this is the _first_ time since getting the Keyblade that I've had the chance to fight for all the wrong reasons. Selfishness, Revenge, Bloodlust, Exhilaration, and it feels _Good_!" Sora stopped there, thinking Kairi might be getting scared now. "What I'm trying to say is…" Sora paused, trying to get the right words into his mouth, "…Is that… I'm _choosing_ to fight, instead of being forced into a situation where the only outcome I can accept is me fighting. I'm doing something for myself, and it's… satisfying…"

Kairi nodded, smiling. "Okay then… just promise me you'll come back, alright?"

Sora was shocked. "You're not coming with me?"

"Eh?"

Sora grabbed Kairi by the arm. "Come on! You, Me, Riku too! It'll be an adventure, like the one we were going to have before!"

Kairi stared at him for a moment, then smiled, nodding. "Alright then."

Sora and Kairi worked on the Gummi ship until nightfall. Because of their limited supply and selection of Gummi blocks, however, they could only build an absolutely basic Gummi ship. It had a cockpit, a few small engines, and had a basic ship shape made entirely out of Gummi Cubes. Nevertheless, Sora was confident that it would fly, and when they returned to the mainland on Kairi's boat, they told Riku about their plans.

"Are you out of your minds!?"

While it wasn't the response Sora and Kairi expected from Riku, they endured his rant. Understandably, Riku had several valid problems with leaving the island on an adventure, namely involving school work (Still catching up), families (Mom still not used to having me home), and danger of other worlds (I went insane and tried to kill you, remember?)

After five minutes of Riku's rant, however, Sora interrupted him simply saying;

"Riku, I can understand your concerns, but it would really save us a lot of time if we all just pretended that we had the upcoming argument and assumed that I won.

Riku opened his mouth in protest, then shut it, then shook his head and punched Sora in the shoulder. "Fine then, when we leaving?"

"Tomorrow" Kairi replied.

"Cool." Riku noted. "Give me time to set my affairs in order."

"You're not gonna die Riku."

"Yeah, Yeah." Riku replied as he walked away from the two, hands in his pockets. He raised one hand above his head, declaring "Later!" to the two.

Kairi then turned to Sora, "I need to get ready too, so I'll see you tomorrow on the island, yeah?"

Sora nodded in agreement. "Yeah, first thing."

"Great!" Kairi grinned, and set off at a jog, "Make sure you clear it with your parents, okay?"

Sora flinched; he wasn't looking forward to that.

"Absolutely not!"

When Sora brought the topic up at the dinner table that evening, his mother made her opinion on the matter very clear.

"Mom, just let me explain-"

"What is there to explain!? You want to abandon your life and schoolwork, Again, throw away all the catch up work you've done this year, and go off gallivanting the universe on a piece of scrap you threw together this morning, to go fight against some people that want to _kill_ you! You haven't thought this through at all!"

"Yes mom, I have-"

"You Have No Idea What You're Getting Yourself Into!!"

"Yes, I have, in fact I'm more prepared now than I was the first few times I-"

"YOU'RE TOO YOUNG TO BE DOING ANYTHING LIKE THIS!"

Sora stood up at this, about to argue back, when his father spoke.

"Sit down Sora."

Sora paused for a moment, then obeyed. His father was like that.

"What do you intend to do about your studies?"

Sora thought about that. "Right now? Nothing. I'll make up the catch up work when I return."

"And how do you intend to explain your absence to the school?"

Sora already had an answer for that. "I'll say I was attending other schools, learning about other cultures."

"And how will you provide evidence for that?"

"I'll attend some other schools along the way."

"Will you be taking your examinations at these other schools?"

Sora hadn't thought about that. "That's a good idea, yeah, I'll do that."

"And what about Riku and Kairi? Are they okay with going?"

"They are, and they're discussing it with Riku's parents and the Mayor now."

Sora's father nodded. "And are you aware of the risks?"

"I've lost friends before, dad. I know how easy it is to die. I'm not going to let that happen with Kairi and Riku."

"And yourself? What will _we_ do if _you_ die?"

"Then you can say it was my own stupid fault for being careless at my funeral."

"SORA!!"

Sora's father, however, ignored his wife's outburst. "Alright, you can go."

"…"

"…"

"…"

"HUH!?"

"WHAT!?"

"Just remember to take care of yourself."

The table was silent, then Sora's Mother broke it

"YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS!"

"I am, dear."

"But He's a boy! We can't let three teenagers just go off on their own without an adult!"

"An Adult is going with them."

"Huh?"

"Who?"

"It was his idea." He turned to his son. "You'd better start packing Sora, you should get a good nights sleep tonight if you're leaving in the morning."

Sora was still surprised as he registered what his father had just suggested. _'He sees me as an adult…'_ "Um… Thank you…" He said, moving up the stairs. _'Dad sees me as an adult… he doesn't even see Wakka as an adult…'_

With these thoughts running through Sora's mind, he began to pack his things.

Meanwhile, downstairs, Sora's mother demanded an explanation.

"Did you see Sora's eyes?"

"Yes, but what has that got to do with-"

"Did you really, really look into his eyes?"

She stopped, wondering what her husband was getting at.

"He's no longer our child. I don't know what exactly has happened to our son, but when I look in his eyes, I see him changing."

"Well, he is that age…"

"It's not just the hormones dear." He explained. "When I look into his eyes, It's almost like witnessing the construction of something great." He looked at his wife. "Do you remember the wave? All those years ago?"

She sighed and sat down. "Of course I do, we all do. It destroyed our entire Nation…"

"Too many people died that die. One of them was the boy, Mau."

"Yes, the wave washed away his soul and he forged a new one out of the island, that's why he's the mayor." She remembered that time well; many of the adults couldn't understand why the young man was made chief back then, but he was the one who brought them all together, rebuilding a new Nation for them.

No one questioned his right to be leader after spending five minutes alone with him.

Sora's father continued his explanation; "When I saw Mau back then, I saw something similar in his eyes to what I see in Sora's now." Looked at the ceiling for a moment, "For Sora to reach his fullest potential, I know that he has to go on this journey, wherever it may lead him." He locked eyes with his wife. "That's why I want him to go, so it would really save us a lot of time if we pretended we've had the argument, because I've already won, since I'm not budging an inch on this."

Sora's mother sighed. "Fine, if that's what you really think…" She thought for a moment. "Sora really has that same look Mau did?"

Her husband nodded. "There's just one difference."

She titled her head, gesturing for him to continue.

He smiled behind his glasses; "Sora's building something much bigger than this island.

Roxas looked wiped sweat from his brow, and grinned. He climbed out of the pit, admiring his handiwork.

The foundations were now completed.

"It Has Begun…"


	6. Chapter 6

"We all ready for this?"

"Yes Sora, now let's go already."

Sora, Kairi and Riku were all strapped into their seats of the Gummi ship, named the Odin. Sora's idea, but Riku thought that the Craptacular was more appropriate.

It was still early morning, but the three had packed their things and said their farewells the night before. Grinning in the pilots seat, Sora pulled the lever to start the engines, "Then let's GO!!" He declared, gripping the controls of the ship.

Once they entered Gummi space, Sora set the ship onto autopilot for the nearest world. Spinning around to face the others, he asked "So, waddaya think?"

"Alright, I guess…" Riku actually seemed unimpressed.

"Woah…" Oh, right. Kairi's first time in Gummi space.

Their moment of peace was short lived, as soon the Odin was under attack. Swivelling back to the controls Sora was back in top form. "Battle stations everyone! Riku, take control of the lasers, I want you to target their cores. Kairi, charge up the energy blades, I'll take control of the cannons, clear?"

"Erm… Sora?"

"Yeah?"

"We don't have any of those."

"…We don't have a warp drive either do we…"

"No… we don't…"

"…We don't have any shields either…"

"Nope."

Sora paled. "…I haven't thought this through at all have I…" he said, as an enemy began to charge its attack

"Look on the brightside Sora." Riku remarked, as a world came into view. "We almost got there."

BOOM.

The ship was destroyed instantly.


	7. Chapter 7

Rain fell down on this dark, forsaken world. Many men lost their minds here, though many more were unfortunate enough to remain sane.

The brown haired young man sighed, closing his book. His grey clothes were reminiscent of a buttonless gakuran, with black half-finger gloves and black shoes.

The young man stood, putting his book away and picking up his sheathed sword and slipping it behind him, underneath his jacket.

He walked through the dead city, looking around him as he went. Not one smiling face on this street. Even the children spent less time playing as they did stealing. And what choice did they have? He snapped his hand behind him, grabbing the wrist of the child reaching for his pocket. The child hadn't eaten in days. He took pity on the boy, and gave him his wallet anyway. He watched as the boy ran to his friends. They opened it together, and almost cried.

The young man smiled, walking away. Had he done any good in the world today? Yes he had, but it was just a drop of rain in the puddle.

He glanced down an alleyway and saw some dogs sniffing some bodies. He sighed. They were just kids… the young man walked away.

He then came back, a very different expression on his face. Approaching the bodies, he could tell that they were alive, barely. He picked up the nearest one by his brown spiky hair, and almost chocked.

_It was the Keybearer._

______________________________________________________________

Ow. Ow. Pain. Darkness and pain. Didn't know I had a bone there, but it hurt. Sora grimaced in the darkness. At least pain meant he was still alive, but that didn't mean he was thankful for it. He opened his eyes. Every light was blinding, every sound was deafening. As his eyes focused and his ears calmed down, he realised he was in an unfamiliar bed, his friends no-where to be seen. Getting up, he staggered out of the door into a hallway. He heard some sounds below. Voices, and… laughing? Clutching his head, he made his way down the stairs. The voices were louder as he approached the doorway, but they were still too indistinct to make out what they were saying, or even to recognise them. Summoning, the keyblade, he opened the door.

"Oh, hey! It's sleeping beauty!"

"Hi Sora!" Kairi was cheerful as usual. "You know Tifa?"

______________________________________________________________

A few hours later, Sora was eating a great meal with Riku, Kairi and Tifa. They were in Tifa's Bar, the Seventh Heaven, on a world called Midgar. Apparently one of the regulars had brought them in. She lived there with Cloud and two children, a boy and a girl named Denzel and Marlene, but they were away with a man named Barret.

Sora talked to Tifa about what had happened since she gave him Fenrir, and Tifa told him what she had done since they had fought Sephiroth. Sora actually did a spit take at one point.

"He WHAT!?"

Tifa smiled. "About four months ago."

Kairi put her head in her hand. "Wow… Congratulations!"

Riku looked over at them from the pinball machine. "Cloud's the emo with the blonde spikes and the huge sword, right?"

"And he proposed to her." Sora was in utter disbelief.

Riku shook his head, returning to his game. "You know what they say… Every time Cloud smiles…"

Tifa laughed. "A puppy dies, I know."

"Sorry about that."

Everyone turned to face the door, and found a soggy, smiling Cloud Strife. Tossing a box to Sora, he added "Happy Birthday, sorry I missed it."

"Thanks." Sora replied. "It's not a dead puppy is it?"

"Maybe." The hero replied, slipping behind the bar.

"It's a dead puppy isn't it?"

"Only one way to find out." Cloud poured himself a drink from behind the bar.

"Cloud!" Tifa reprimanded her fiancé.

"I'll pay for it, don't worry." Cloud took a swig from his pint. "You gonna open that or what?"

"Is it-"

"It's not a dead puppy."

"Kitten?"

Cloud glared at him.

"Openingitrightnowsir."

A keyring was inside. "My old bike." Cloud explained. "Wanted to give you that for a while now, as thanks." He headed upstairs. "You'll figure a way to use it somehow. I'm off for a shower."

After he left, Riku turned around. "Sora, you lucky-"

He was already gone.

______________________________________________________________

"WOOOOHOOOO!!!"

Motorbikes are awesome. Sora was racing along at over 150 MpH, and he felt amazing. Yeah, he'd gone this fast before, but this was on a BIKE!

Grinning, Sora revved the accelerator, swerving past the occasional car. That was one advantage to the post-crisis Midgar – the roads were next to empty.

______________________________________________________________

"Dammit… He's gonna get himself killed…"

"He's been through worse."

The brown haired young man turned to face person who had just appeared behind him. It was Lunas.

"Hey Jack." He turned back to the highway. "How's Sora?"

"Good." Lunas- or Jack- smiled. "Going perfect, actually. In fact, He's leaving the island today."

"You mean left."

"…Eh?"

The brown haired young man stood up, towering over Jack. "Sora left the island, and I scraped him from the pavement this morning." For someone who was outraged, he seemed perfectly in control of himself. "The boy has enough problems without you screwing things up."

Jack shrugged. "Well, Sorry, but remember which one of us is strongest."

"I am."

Jack rolled his eyes. "Fine then. Which one of us is best in a fight?"

"Still me."

"Against each other?"

The brown haired young man smiled. "Actually, I reckon I can change that score now."

"Well, bring it then!"

"Gladly. However," he turned back to the highway and rose into the air. "Our 'Hero' is about to kill himself."

"What!?" Jack panicked. "How?"

"He's riding a motorcycle at over 180 Miles per Hour on a highway without a helmet," answered the brown haired young man. "How do you think?" he finished, flying off into the distance.

Jack sighed, closing his eyes. "Honestly Sam," he said, growing a pair of white-gold wings. "You're such an idiot sometimes…" and he flew off behind the other.

______________________________________________________________

"So…" Kairi began; "When do you think he'll be back?"

"Dunno… Probably when he's tired or hungry I guess…" Riku replied

"Yeah… but how's he gonna find his way back?"

Silence.

"It's cool, I'll find him." A blonde young man walked through the bar, towelling his long blonde hair. "Be right back."

After he left, Riku turned to Tifa. "So, who was he?"

"Erm… that was Cloud..?"

Silence. Again.

"It's okay Riku, not many people recognise him with his hair down."

"I did." Kairi Interjected.

The two young women giggled, and Riku went back to his pinball machine.

______________________________________________________________

SWERVE! Sora was speeding through the desert, fighting Heartless as he went along. It reminded him of his time back in Space Paranoids, only this was much more intense. Squeezing the acceleration, Sora sped towards his next target, which disintegrated as a bullet passed through it.

Breaking, Sora looked up the cliff where the bullet had passed through.

"Nice shot Yazoo, I think you got his attention."

"Yes, but I wonder what he's going to do now Kadaj?"

"Maybe he'll play with us, or do you think he'll just lead us to mother?"

"Well Loz," replied the first, "Let's find out."

There were three men, each in black cloaks and with silver hair. Each had a motorcycle and a weapon. The big one and the tall one, presumably Loz and Yazoo, mounted their bikes and sped down to Sora. Grinning, Sora revved his engine, holding his keyblade in both hands. "_Power!_", and the keyblade split into two, The Heroes Crest and the Star Seeker, and Sora's clothes turned red.

"Huh?" Kadaj was surprised at this. Grinning, Sora rode forward to the approaching two, steering by leaning, keyblade in each hand.

He rode between them and jumped, taking his bike with him. Loz got shot in the shoulder and Yazoo got punched in the jaw. Grinning, Sora flipped the bike and rode between them from behind, attacking them from both sides.

"Pull back Brother!"

Loz and Yazoo did, and Sora took hold of the steering wheel again. _'What're they planning?"_

SMASH! Loz punched his fist into the ground, sending a shockwave to Sora. He braked, missing the sudden fissure by a foot, and got a bullet in the arm for his trouble.

"GARGH!"

Grunting, Sora reverted out of Valour form and cast Curagun on himself. Once he blinked out the pain, however, he saw that the two brothers had done a tailspin, and were coming for him.

"Oh crap."

Sora heard another bike catching up behind him. Looking in his mirror, he saw someone he didn't recognise on an unfamiliar bike. He had blond hair.

Flipping a switch on the bike, the blond pulled a huge sword out of a socket. And another out of another socket. And another. And another. And another.

'Okay,' Sora thought, _'No-one in their right mind keeps six oversized swords hidden in one bike, and uses them all at once.'_

The man, however, began to piece the blades together, creating a weapon that Sora _did _recognise.

"Cloud?" Sora asked, as Cloud sped past.

Slicing at the two brothers, they veered off to either side and, at Kadaj's command, retreated. Cloud gave no sign of giving chase, however, as he slowed down to a halt. Sora did the same.

"Thanks Cloud… I-"

WHAM! Cloud punched the young boy in the face.

"Are you insane? Do you have any idea how worried your friends were? What about how I felt!?"  
Sora was stunned. "N-no, I, I didn't think-"

"YOU'RE DAMN RIGHT YOU DIDN'T THINK!" Cloud was furious. "Never, EVER, go biking without goggles."

"I-I'm sorry, I-" Sora blinked. "Wait, What?"

"Think about it." Cloud smiled. "If a nail or a piece of glass flew into your eye, that'd hurt, right? Now imagine that if you flew into it at the same time."

Sora didn't know what to say. Seriously, the situation seemed serious and surreal at the same time. "Erm…" he took the bike goggles Cloud offered him and settled for a "…Thanks?"

Cloud remounted his bike. "Now, I've got a delivery to make-"

Sora almost choked. "You? You're making deliveries?"

Cloud handed him a business card. "Strife Delivery Service," Cloud read for him, "You name it, We deliver it!"

Sora couldn't believe it. If it wasn't for the fact that he was disassembling an oversized multi-sword and putting the pieces back into their secret compartments on his bike, you'd look at his unspiked hair, consider his engagement to Tifa, read the business card and listen to him talk about health and safety and think that The Cloud Strife had gone… soft..!

"Not a chance." Cloud replied once Sora told him that while mounting his on bike, wearing his new goggles. "I've settled down. That's different."

"Really?" Sora couldn't see any major difference between the two. "How?"

Cloud put on a pair of sunglasses. "Did you wonder why I wasn't wearing anything over my eyes when I saved your ass?"

Actually, Sora didn't notice, so he shook his head.

Cloud smiled. "That's because someone shot me in the face on the way here." Cloud hit the ignition, and Sora did the same. "Sniper probably. Still making enemies as usual."

With that, he sped off, and Sora accelerated to catch up.

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

Yeah, some of you wondered if the ship exploding was a nightmare, but no. Sora crashing on Midgar because of a lack of weapons was one of the earlier plot points we came up with.

So, yeah, Cloud's got over himself, and new mysterious organisation showing itself. Are they on Sora's side or not? Who knows. I do.

Anyways, I'd like to thank the people who've read this so far, I appreciate this. Yes, I know Persona 3: Fairly English Story has got more chapters uploaded, but that's because I find that easier to right, plus I can have more fun getting into Minato's head than I can Sora's. It has to be that way, since Oblivion is meant to be a darker turn for KH, but I get a free reign on P3.

Anyways, I'm gonna come out and say it, it's fairly obvious. Sam and Jack/Lunas are based of real people who worked on the old project. Yep, we're meant to be overpowered, but this is where I'm gonna have some difficulty with the story.

Right now, they're meant to be insane strong, but I don't want to end up making and Marty Stu perfect characters or anything, I want you guys to come to love them as much as I do. So I need your help. If you think I'm over emphasizing on them, or turning them into main characters, making them too perfect, then I need you to tell me. If you tell me in time, I'll re-write the offending chapter to improve it; this story is about Sora, not me.

For that matter, if you think Cloud's acting out of character, tell me. I don't want any comments like "Cloud's supposed to be dark and stuff", or "Cloud wouldn't propose to Tifa!" My justification for that is that Cloud _did_ lighten up towards the end of VII and Advent Children, and that it's suggested the only reason he was so emo in the first place was because he was royally screws up in the game, turning into a positive leader once he got his head on straight. And in Advent Children, he thought his Geostigma was punishment for Aeris' death, neither of which happened in KH. Plus the "Cloud, you can have my light," scene, and a healthy dose of Sora, of course Cloud would be happy right now. Besides. It's a plot point.

Anyhoo, enough of my rant. I appreciate any help you can give me, and sorry for messing with you in chapter 6, but it was worth it.


	8. Chapter 8

Twenty three golden eyes shone in the darkness. Their twelve owners sat in twelve seats, a thirteenth chair standing there empty.

"**So, Even is no more."**

"We underestimated the Keybearer."

"No. We over estimated the fourth seat."

"Or maybe the spineless wussbag got what it deserved."

"Hold thy tongue, Number Eight."

As you get used to the darkness, you would be able to see twelve figures, all heartless, with human shapes and inhuman, golden eyes. The twelve seats were set at varying heights, as if to signify rank. The one who just spoke was in the fifth highest seat, glaring at the heartless in the eighth seat. The heartless next to it, number seven, spoke.

"Remember Sean, you are the newest addition to our ranks. Know your place."

The eighth heartless, Sean, grinned. The heartless to the other side, however, tried to control the situation. "Hey, Ias, Aeleus, calm down alright?"

The heartless in the tenth seat nodded. "Myde's right. Numbers Eight, Eleven, Twelve and Thirteen all had to be replaced, as well as our leader."

The second heartless smiled. "We weren't exactly gonna allow those traitors back into our fold now, were we Ludor?"

The third nodded. "Braig's right. And since our leaders heartless had already been destroyed…"

"**Yes Dilan. I stepped in. Does anyone have an issue with that?"**

All the original members of the organisation shuddered. The superior's power was amazing, but compared to the new leader… It was terrifying, even to those without hearts.

It sat there regally, clad in dark armour, rather than the black robes of its underlings. Golden eyes glowed darkly from its helmet, emitting an aura of power that said one thing and one thing only. _Cross me and die._

The less powerful members of the organisation didn't even consider the possibility. The eighth, however, seemed unaffected, living up to its name: The Cold Flame. Not that the flame was cold in any way. Sean's flame showed amazing power; the name of 'Cold' came from the utter calmness and an aura emanating from the heartless that screamed unimpressed.

"Well I certainly don't." came a new voice. "In fact, wasn't it me who brought you all here?"

Typhoon strode into the centre of the room. Glancing around, he jumped into the fourths seat. One heartless wasn't impressed.

"You sent Even to its end and now you leap into its seat…"

Typhoon turned to it. "It was a necessary death. You know this Ienzo." Seeing the heartless nod, Typhoon clapped his hands together. "Right," He said, "Introduce me to the new guys. I know Sean already."

The highest heartless nodded. **"Speak."**

One of the lowest heartless rose, brushing its spiky tendrils back across its head, with one coming down its face. "I am Zack, The Soldier's Blade. Number Eleven, I served in SOLDIER."

The heartless below him waved nonchalantly, its tendrils slicked back. "Enoch, but you can call me The Storm's Fury. I was a Hero of Dark you know."

Typhoon nodded, impressed. SOLDIER were among the best fighters there were, and a Hero blessed by the crystals had immense power. He turned to the lowest member, number thirteen. "And you are..?"

Silence. The heartless had hair-like tendrils blocking one of its eyes from view, but the dim light shone through. The heartless looked almost bored. "…"

"Dude…" Enoch nudged the thirteenth, "He's talking to you…"

The heartless looked up, almost mournfully, "…Abyss…"

Typhoon sighed. The least senior member certainly didn't seem conversational. He'd push for more of a background, but most likely he was just some emo kid wanting to look cool. Still, for him to make it in he had to have some power. "Well, my name is Typhoon. I wield the Keyblade of Twilight, and returned intelligence to the first of you. You answer to your leader," he looked to the number one, "And he answers to me. Don't let the fact that I'm sitting in Even's seat fool you."

Everyone nodded, or at least showed some sign of acknowledgement. Well, Abyss didn't move, but apparently that was normal for it. Typhoon assumed the best and announced, "Well, I have an assignment for you. I need five volunteers."

"Five?" Braig chuckled. "Some big operation you got planned there Blondie."

Typhoon smiled. "Just learning from your previous leaders past mistakes."

Ias suddenly looked furious. "And What Mistake Was That?"

"Easy Ias, calm down befo-" Dilan started, but Typhoon cut it off

"I meant sending you in single units. From now on I want you all to work as teams. Number one can take care of himself, so he can work alone."

The highest figure nodded. **"As you wish."**

Typhoon continued. "Numbers eleven through thirteen can work together, due to their inexperience." Zack and Enoch looked offended, and Abyss didn't seem to care. "The rest of you should get with a partner. You can work that out on your own, But right now-" Typhoon looked around the room, "I need two of you to lead our three most junior members on this mission."

"Where we going, what we doing, what's the rules?"

Typhoon smiled. "To the point, as always Zack. You are going to your homeworld of Midgar," Something flashed across the heartless's face "To Approach Shinra and Avalanche with an offer to meet and form an alliance. When they refuse…" Typhoon's smile turned dark, "Eliminate them."

Myde raised its hand, as if in school. "Um… Don't you mean _if_ they refuse?"

Sean shook its head, facepalming. "Idiot…" it raised its head, grinning. "You know full well that they'll refuse don't you Typhoon?" He asked the human, almost accusingly, "You're just telling us to offer your alliance so when things get political, you can cover your own back…"

Typhoon lifted his hands into the air, sighing slightly. "Guilty as charged. After all, it's what I'm paid for. "

"Paid?" That shocked Ludor. "You serve another?"

"Only the several million citizens of my homeworld."

"A Politician then…" Ienzo sighed.

Sean smiled. "Interesting… Alright, who's gonna get in my way every mission?"

Another heartless laughed. "You've got some nerve boy…" Braig seemed happy. "Alright, I'll keep an eye on you."

Everyone in the room, bar Braig and Abyss, groaned. It was an awful pun.

"Well then," Typhoon recovered, "Braig and Sean will support the team, but it will be Zack, Enoch and Abyss who lead this mission." He looked around the room. "Any questions before you leave?"

Sean already had.

Its new teammates soon followed.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sora and Cloud grinded to a halt. There stood a tower by the beach; and there were some cares there already. Cloud frowned and drew his swords. "Cloud?" Sora asked.

"Get ready…" Cloud shoved the completed blade into a holster on his back. "…This is a set up." He grabbed the package and strode towards the entrance. Sora followed him, hands braced to summon the keyblade.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"So, how did you and Cloud meet?"

Riku sighed. Women. Tifa and Kairi were still at it, Sora had gone on his adventures, Cloud had followed, leaving him to try and beat this stupid pinball machine.

And what a machine! The game was evil! How the hell was he supposed to beat 6,593,802 points!? More to the point, who the hell could even reach 6,593,802 points!?

A Madman, that's who.

So, yeah, Riku was ignoring Tifa's story about how Cloud saved her when they were kids, but then left for Midgar. Boor-ring. Back to the game.

Few minutes later, apparently Cloud came back from Midgar, only in disguise because he didn't want anyone to know that he'd failed the entrance exam to SOLDIER school or something. _Yes_, Riku thought, _Double Points!_

"And that's when I saw Sephiroth kill my father."

Blah blah bla-what?

"He just walked away, laughing, leaving dad impaled on his sword to die…"

Wait… What?

"So I took his sword, and charged after him."

Wait, What!?

"He grabbed me and took his sword back, then he threw me into the air so he could get a good attack in."

Wait, WHAT!?

"I still have the scar, right here," Tifa's hand was pressed against her chest. "If Cloud hadn't come for me, I'd have bled to death. 'Course," She laughed, "I'd already fallen for him a long time ago."

WAIT, WHAT!?

"Cloud ran in, helped me, and then he picked up that SOLDIERS sword and charged at Sephiroth. I blacked out, but the next time I saw him was three years later, after destroying the Shinra Sector…"

Tifa trailed off, most likely because Riku had now left the machine and was listening to her with enormous interest. "Go on."

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Cloud quietly approached the door. As he listened, he could here voices behind it. Sora took his position on the other side of the door. Riku nodded and, drawing his sword, kicked the iron door straight off of its hinges. He was not expecting who was on the other side.

"Yo Cloud! Where you bin'? 'Cause wherever you were, you certainly was NOT doing your hair spikey!"

The blonde glared. "Barret. Why the hell did I ride all the way across the desert just to deliver this-" He threw the package onto the table "To you?"

"You did not." Answered another voice. Cloud turned, seeing a man in a wheelchair, his face and suit covered by a stained cloth. Judging from Cloud's face, however, he recognised him.

"Rufus Shinra. Of all the people Holy didn't kill, you just _had_ to be one of them, didn't you?"

Sora was listening from behind the door. It didn't sound like a fight, but things could turn ugly at any second. He felt a heavy hand on his shoulder, and turned to see a large, dark skinned man in a suit and shades. He did not look friendly.

"Well, lookie what we got here…" A smaller man in a scruffier suit approached. His read hair and green eyes looked familiar to Sora, especially with tattoos under his eyes, but where from..?"

"Alright Reno, pipe down." Another man in a suit approached. He also had red hair and green eyes, but his tattoos were different and his hair spiked back instead of wild and in a ponytail. "What've you got Rude-" The man saw our hero and stopped mid sentence, lost for words. Sora, however recovered fairly quickly.

"AXEL!?"

The first two men looked confused, and the third man pushed his head back and laughed.

"Name's Lea Kid. L – E – A. Got it memorised?"

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sorry if this isn't as good as the rest of my work, I wrote it while suffering from sleep deprivation.

I know that this is supposed to be my main story, but the fact is that I simply find Persona 3: Fairly English Story more fun to write than this. Don't get me wrong, I love both of my stories to bits, it's just that I started P3:FES as an experiment into writing in first person, which became something awesome. However, first person just wouldn't fit this story.

You can compare the two. Honestly, the characterisations better in FES that Oblivion, but that's because I've played Persona 3 FES more recently than I've played KH:II. On top of that, I've been working on this story for ages in my head, so all of the characters personalities have been distorted. I especially realised this when I read Butterfly Wings, by Farla. You should check it out, it really brought up a lot of aspects of Sora's head that I forgot about, or simply didn't consider. That made me step back and think for a bit, so now that I've remembered what Sora _Was,_ (I re-read the manga and replayed some parts of KH to help this), now I have a better idea of what Sora would _Become._

Remember, the foundations have only been laid.

-

So, yeah, new organisation members. 5 new members in all and only a couple of them are OC's. Guess who they are, and who the other three are Cameo's of, and you get a cookie. I wanted to make one of them Jason Bourne, but the current members suit my ends better. Maybe I'll put him in later.

…

Look, it's Kingdom Hearts, alright? The whole series is based on a crossover, but Final Fantasy and Disney have their limits, so I expanded the crossover base. How big you ask? Well, so far, four separate series have been cameoed, possibly five. Another cookie to whoever can spot them all.

Now, on the subject of OC's. yes, there will be plenty. Yes, many will be powerful- so far most of them currently overpower Sora. However, I want to avoid Sue-ing at all costs. I don't want suggestions like "Make them lose more," or "Make them weaker," because I don't want to affect the continuity of my story, and besides, strength isn't what makes a Sue. If a character is a Ninja with a Bankai and a Hollow Mask who has eaten a Devil Fruit that lets him use Alchemy, then that's fine, as long as that Jonin Vizard Pirate Alchemist is written well. Does the character attract all the women in the series, and half the men, despite him only being interested in that one, true girl from the series? That's fine too, so long as it's done well.

Concerning power levels, let me put it into perspective. Say Sora started this story at level 100. (I'm using this as a base since his power did not deteriorate.) Typhoon schooled him, putting him at least ten levels above. Already we have beaten the level 99 barrier twice, and we're only on our second world. See where this is going? Pretty soon, everyone's going to be insanely powerful, so you should embrace it now, it will save time later.

Now, I want to ask for some advice. I am currently considering starting a third story. I want to see if I can make a decent Pokémon OT trainer, and just to spice it up, it will be about two separate OT's on parallel journeys. I reckon I can make it good, and the only pairings will be OT X OT. Now do you guys think I should go for it as well as Kingdom Hearts and Persona? I could really do with your input, thanks.

Don't forget to try for the cookies.


	9. Chapter 9

"Now Cloud," Rufus Shinra began, smiling beneath the cloth covering his face, "Shall we begin?"

The meeting had been gathered to discuss plans for a new Midgar. After Meteor, Shinra had realised that Mako energy was too dangerous; taking energy from the heart of the planet only resulted in heartless, and eventually dove Sephiroth mad. It was far too risky, and they needed a new alternative.

Why Cloud was there, he still did not know. "Tch…" he began, "Fine…"

"I wouldn't sit down if I were you."

The three turned to the voice, coming from a portal of darkness. A dark being; a heartless with many tendrils forming a scruffy mane on its head. It carried an enormous broardsword; sharp on both edges, the blade as long as he was tall, but unlike Cloud's weapon, this sword's handle was a metre long, like a spear.

"TURKS!" Shinra ordered, "TO ME!"

The door burst forward as Reno kicked it down; he charged in with Rude, Lea and Sora.

"HEARTLESS!" Sora declared, as if everyone hadn't gotten that already. "Wait, which one are you? I don't remember fighting you!"

The Heartless smiled. "You wouldn't Sora, I'm new." It turned to face the group. "Number Eight, Sean, The Cold Flame."

Lea smirked. "So you're my replacement?"

The heartless turned to the Turk. "And you are..?"

"Lea." He grinned. "Once upon a time though, I was Axel, the Flurry of the Dancing Flames! And these," he held out his arms, fire encircling them as two Chakram appeared, "ARE MY ETERNAL FLAME!"

The Heartless grinned as it swung its blade. "This is Vengeance." The Heartless said, pointing the huge blade at the Turk, holding the handle midway with one hand. "Say hello Vengeance." The blade burst into flame. "It likes you."

"So I take it that you refuse our offer to join us then."

Everyone turned from Sean to see three more Heartless enter through the broken door. "My name is Braig, this is Enoch and Zack." The one in the lead stated, gesturing to the other two. Its one golden eye shone. "Good to see you Roxas." It announced, noticing Sora.

"IT'S SORA!!"

"Right, Right, you said…" The one eyed Heartless shrugged. Its partner, Sean, raised its eyebrows in confusion.

"Where's the emo?"

"Who, Abyss?" Zack shrugged. "I sent him to do some business for me." It looked around the room, finding a few familiar faces, and settled on one he liked. "Hey, Cloud! Long time no see!"

Cloud glared at the Heartless. "Where did you send your friend?"

Zack was taken aback. "Wow, you've grown a pair. Don't worry," it said, "I sent him to deal with some of Sephie's remnants."

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Loz's fist came flying though the wall of the Seventh Heaven, expecting resistance. What he did not expect, however, was Riku's knee in his face, sending him flying out again.

"And that's why people use the door, brother."

Turning around, Riku saw two more silver haired men enter. The shorter one looked shocked to see him.

"Oh, are you perhaps another one of our brothers, searching for mother?"

'_What. The. Crap.'_ Riku thought. "Whaddya take me for? Why the hell would I be looking for your old hag?"

The two men looked mortified, and Riku head a voice behind him. "What… did you say… about mother..?"

'_That's right Riku'_ he told himself, _'Push their buttons, get them mad, and they're not a threat.'_ "I said Yo momma's so old, there are cave drawings of her!"

"Yes, she was prophesied by the Ancients. That is because she is the rightful god of this world."

'_Crap.' _ "Or maybe it's because she's so ugly the camera broke!" Loz and Yazoo were clearly getting angry, but Kadaj kept his cool.

"Well Yo momma's so fat that she wears an asteroid belt." Kadaj turned to his brothers. "It's a common game. Don't let him antagonise you."

'_Crap.' _ Riku was about to attack when he saw Kadaj get kicked in the face by Tifa. He didn't even see her move! She then dropped to the floor and took down Yazoo with a leg sweep. Riku then saw Loz rush past him but he was too late to stop him.

"_STOP!" _And Loz did, only for a second.

That was long enough for Riku, who rushed around him to block his path. "Thanks Kairi!"

But Kairi was already moving for Yazoo, who had gotten back on his feet and was drawing his gun. Tifa was locked in battle against Kadaj, her two fists against his two blades.

Tifa recognised that weapon, and knew that if she got cut by those two blades, then they wouldn't be able to heal her properly due to the dual wound. She kicked his chest and flipped back to the other side of the bar. Riku and Kairi did the same.

There they stood, Loz, Yazoo and Kadaj, facing Riku, Kairi and Tifa. Tifa pulled a pair of leather gloves from her pocket and walked forward slowly, pulling them onto her hands.

Kadaj did the same, swinging his sword idly as he walked.

The stopped a few metres from each other. Sparks flashed between Tifa's open palm and darkness encircled Kadaj. They stared at each other a moment, and Tifa clenched her fist as Kadaj pointed his sword at her.

They stood there for a moment, then Kadaj's sword was suddenly forced upwards by the Way to Dawn.

"RIKU!?"

"WHAT!?"

"This One's Mine!" Riku announced, kicking Kadaj in the ribs. He then headbutted the remnant, who disappeared in a flash of speed, reappearing behind Kairi. "KAIRI!"

"Don't worry about her," Yazoo began, aiming his long barrelled gun, "You've got your own problems."

"SHUT UP!" he snarled, launching a sphere of darkness at the long haired gunner. He charged at Kadaj, who was facing Kairi, who held a Keyblade much like his own, but where his was demonic, hers was angelic. What scared Riku the most was that she was holding out against the sword master. Tifa was exchanging blows with Loz, but for all of his strengths and speed, Tifa made up with technique and her experience barfighting.

"GARGH!" Loz cried, leaping back as he tried to correct his Jaw.

Tifa was also fast and strong.

Riku grunted and ran for Kadaj. "Tag." he told Kairi, intercepting Kadaj's blow. Kairi turned to see Yazoo regain movement, and nodded, rushing forward.

"Why are you so eager to die?" Kadaj asked him.

"Why are you so eager to SHUT UP!?" Riku forced back his opponents' blade and thrust forward his own. Kadaj easily caught it, and caught Riku's incoming punch.

"So predictable…" then he noticed Riku's grin as darkness began flowing down their joined arms.

"The darkness gave me strength…" Riku told him as the dark mist flowed around him. "I lost my own, so I'm gonna have to take yours!" the mist condensed and completely covered Riku. Kadaj stepped back, releasing his grip and showed fear at his opponents newfound strength.

This fear turned to anger as he realised what the boy was doing. "You dare steal mothers' gift?"

"Your mother gave you this?" he asked mockingly as the dark cloud surrounding him dissipated. "She must really hate you then."

Riku was wearing organic looking blue armour with the heartless symbol adorning his chest. White feathers had sprouted from his waist, looking for the entire world like a demon. Riku looked down at his new armour and frowned. "This has got to go…" he muttered, dark flames appearing in his free hand. He held the flame to his chest, burning the symbol he hated so much. The armour regenerated, this time without the branding. "That's right…" he said, almost to himself, "The darkness is mine," he looked at Kadaj. "It will not control _me_!"

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Cloud locked blades with his old friend and superior officer. The whole tower was affected by the battle; Sean and Lea were equally destructive with their flames and attacks, neither seeming to care about the damage they were causing.

Barret, Reno and Rude were struggling against the gun wielding Braig, whose teleportation made easy work of them; if it wasn't for the skill of the weakened Rufus, that battle would have been decided much earlier.

That left Sora with Enoch. The Heartless seemed to enjoy losing itself in the melee, and had Sora on the ropes. Knocking the boy back, it laughed with glee. "Having Fun!?"

Sora forced himself up, gripping his keyblade in both hands. "LET'S GO!!" Sora roared, ripping the keyblade in two.

"Huh?" Enoch didn't expect that. Reversing the grips of his two shortswords, he got into his stance, ready for Sora's attack.

Sora charged forward, Oathkeeper and Oblivion in either hand, but jumped to the side just before they locked swords. He crossed his blades across his chest and bounced off the wall, lunging for the surprised Heartless. He slashed across its chest with both blades. Smiling at Enoch's scream, he twisted into the air and landed behind his foe, turning to make two parallel slashes across the Heartless's back. Absorbed in the fight, Sora shoulder smashed Enoch, pushing him away as he stepped into a triangular stance, his arms holding the Keyblades diagonally to the ground.

"You son of a-"

Sora never found out what his parents were, as he sliced through the Heartless's head mid sentence. That was satisfying. He turned to leave as his opponent faded into black mist.

"Thanks."

Sora froze, turning around. There stood a young man in a black gakuran. His black hair was slicked back and he held two shortswords in reverse grip. He admired his reflection in a miraculously unbroken window. "Never thought I'd get to see this handsome face again so soon. I owe ya one." He returned to his stance. "And now that I'm back..." he disappeared in a flash of lightning.

A voice whispered into Sora's ear. "I can use the crystals power again…"

Sora speed forwards, turning to face his opponent. "Who are you?"

"Oh, come on Sora, you remember me!" the Young man smiled. "I'm Enoch, the Storms Fury of the Warriors of Dark. You destroyed my Heartless a few seconds ago."

'_Crap.'_ "If you're back to normal, then why do you still want to fight?"

Enoch found this hilarious. "That's what I do. I'm a fighter. And why do I fight you and not the others? Because we follow orders from our leader."

"Typhoon."

"Nope." Enoch waved his hand mockingly, while still holding onto his blade. "Not even close. The boss just told me to spy on the organisation to see what was up. But I do kinda like that guy." He smirked. "Typhoons got some big plans for this place. I'll probably end up taking his orders anyways."

"Plans?" Sora knew Typhoon was up to something, and not in the vague suspicious way either. "What's he up to?"

Enoch grinned. "You'll see. But right now, I'm occupied in destroying you."

"Touch him and die."

Enoch turned to face the young man approaching. His brown hair almost covered his eyes, but not enough to conceal the controlled rage there. He wore a grey gakuran and carried a straight sword. "Boss?" Enoch asked him.

"Not yours." The young man replied. "_BLIZZAGUNDRA!!_"

"Eh?" Enoch looked confused as to why his new opponent had cast a level 6 Ice spell without doing anything. Then the freezing energy hit him in the back, encasing him in ice.

Sora looked behind him, but found no one. Could this guy actually cast spells from a distance?

The young man approached Sora. "You're more capable than my brother told me."

Sora figured it out. "You're Lunas's brother?"

The man nodded. "His name's Jack. Mine's Sam." He offered his hand, which Sora stared at for a second, then shook it.

Fire then flew from another corridor and blocked them from Enoch. When it cleared, the Warrior of Dark was thawed and was joined by the Heartless named Sean.

It threw a body to Sora. "Happy birthday." As it slid across the floor, Sora recognised the injured face. "AXEL!" he then corrected himself. "Erm… Lea." He checked his pulse. The Turk was still alive and breathing, but was completely out cold.

"Not bad, he was stronger than I expected." The Heartless remarked. It then turned to Enoch. "You might want to get your ass back in there, you rookies are meant to be doing the work."

Enoch was taken aback at the Heartless's words, but grunted. "Fine…"

As the Heartless-turned-human ran down the hallway, Sean turned to Sora as red lines gathered over its black body. "You might want to get that out of here," it said, nodding its head towards Lea's unconscious body, "This is gonna be messy."

"Don't you tell me what to-" Sora was cut off Sam.

"I'll take him. You get him out before the building collapses."

"And why should I trust you?"

"Good question." Sam replied, picking up Lea and thrusting him into Sora's arms. "Here's my answer." He moved his palm in front of Sora's chest.

"What're you-?" An invisible hand gripped Sora. "WHAT!?" the hand then forced the boy and his unconscious ally out of the window. "WOAH!" Sora cried, as he corrected his fall.

Sam then turned back to the heartless, which was now covered in the red lines, looking like a demonic circuit board. Sam smirked and asked "Pick a colour… Red, Yellow or Blue…"

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

With Riku's Dark powers restored, they were overpowering the remnants. Tifa was locked in a stalemate against Kadaj, and Riku was fighting alongside Kairi against Loz and Yazoo.

However, a dark wind flew through the bar, cutting everything lightly, stopping all fights.

Everyone turned to face the dark figure entering the building. It was slim, had its hands in its pockets and its shoulders hunched over. The tendrils that served the Heartless as hair covered one side of its face, but it was otherwise comparatively short. Its yellow eyes looked pale… remorseful? Just looking at it almost brought Kairi to tears; Riku knew about Kairi's sixth sense about these things and knew instantly what it meant;

This Heartless hurt. Bad. Now that Riku knew about it, he could even feel the sheer amount of heartache coming from the figure. "What… Who are you?" he asked, trying to keep the tremble from his voice.

"…"

Pity instantly warped into fear as the Heartless stopped repressing its power. Everyone in the room fell to their knees as the dark figure drew a black handgun.

"…_Abyss_…"

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

So here we are with some proper battles.

This is a more Riku focused chapter. I actually wanted to have two big brawls going on, everyone changing opponents. But, I'm not that good yet, so this was the best I could do.

Riku got his dark powers back. Whoot. Kairi got a fight boost. Whoot. Sora can use two Keyblades now.

Actually, he could do that in KH:II Final Mix. Come to think of it, I never explained that some of the Keyblades Typhoon took were from final mix either. Ah well, I'm doing this now.

So, plot is starting to show. What do you guys think of it so far? Zack's revealed to be Zack Fair from Final Fantasy VII, (obvious), and I might as well say it now: Enoch and the other warriors of dark (You'll meet them later) are all OC's.

Yep, Sam is based on me. Self Insertation, I know. However, I'll be open and say that the character is more awesome than I am. Yes, Jack is based on my brother, who is also less awesome than the character. I'll go ahead and warn you: we're all a bit 'Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot', as you'll see in the next chapter when you find out what happens with the colours. I haven't decided yet which colour I'll pick, so if you cast your vote in the review section in time, I'll pick that one.

Still cookie going for whoever can guess who Abyss really is. Big huge clue in next chapter from the way it fights, so you don't have long left.

Actually, chapter ten will probably make it somewhat clear just how far I'm taking this. I timed that pretty well, didn't I?

Anyways, I'm taking a short holiday next week, so I won't be able to upload anything. I'll probably still be writing though, so I'll have one, maybe two chapters waiting for you when I come back. Hopefully.


	10. Chapter 10

I recommend listening to Rise Against during this chapter, specifically Saviour and Prayer of the Refugee. My friend recommends "Battle for Everyone's Souls", from Persona 3, and I agree with him. Also, again, look for the cameos.

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"Guh…" Sora felt like crap. Understandable really, since he'd just been thrown out of a tower onto the sand below, and had an adult man lying on top of him. Grunting, Sora pushed Lea off of him and got up, casting _"Curaga!"_

His wounds healed, Sora felt the pressure in the air as the remaining Turks escorted Rufus Shinra out of the tower, with Barret bringing up the rear. He was firing wildly at Enoch, who laughed as he playfully blocked each bullet with his twin blades. Sora stood up and summoned the Keyblade.

"Hey, you got your own problems kiddo."

Sora spun round to face Braig. The Heartless grinned and teleported back as Sora swung for it. Zack and Cloud came flying out of the tower, blades clashing as they fell, but Sora ignored them as he charged forwards towards his foe, who teleported again.

"You're losing your touch!"

"So are you old man!"

"Me?" Braig looked offended. "As If!"

Then the tower exploded. Everyone turned to look and saw Sean and Sam in the sky, floating in a bladelock, Longsword against Zanbato. Sean had crimson lines running all across its body, much like a circuit board fused with tribal tattoos, with its normally golden eyes now blood red. Sam, on the other hand, looked bigger, and his normally rough brown hair was golden, and flying up in spikes. His calculating, brown eyes were now green and full of bloodlust. The pressure emanating from the two fighters was awe inspiring.

The scary thing was that they seemed to be enjoying it.

"_Meteor"_ Sam jumped back as Sean's blade gained an evil red glow. It swung the blade, sending an enormous shockwave through the air. Sam glowed blue as he blocked the blast, becoming engulfed in the explosion. As the smoke cleared, he was grinning as the blue aura grew, then concentrated around his blade, launching double the power back towards the Heartless. Sean grinned as a ritualistic circle appeared in front of him. The blast was absorbed and flowed into the heartless, turning the crimson lines on its skin blue.

Sam, however, had disappeared. The Heartless spun around and got kneed in the stomach.

"UGH!" Sam took the opening and launched a flurry of punches into Sean's stomach. The Heartless dropped its blade and punched low, exposing its shoulders to his opponent. It crunched into a ball and, before Sam could escape, launched a blue blast, thoroughly destroying what remained of the tower.

Sam fell to the earth, rushing through the debris, and Sean flashed down and began to mimic Sam's body blows. Sam opened his eyes at the attack and span around the heartless, elbowing it in the back. It ignored the attack, however, and waved its arm horizontally in front of it. Blades of fire appeared along the path of its hand and carried along slashing at Sam. He grunted with the pain, and dodged as the flaming swords span around the heartless, like a buzzsaw.

"_Curaga!" _Sam healed himself while glaring at the Heartless, who grinned. Sam sighed and his muscles shrank slightly. His hair and face became lighter as he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He then moved his arms around, as if he was feeling a bubble. He opened his eyes and looked completely calm, almost removed from the situation. Sam and Sean faced each other, and then simultaneously whispered the name of the technique.

"_Seikuken."_

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"LOZ! YAZOO! LET'S GET OUT OF HERE!!"

Kadaj screamed to retreat, but couldn't find the strength to move. Abyss's power was almost chocking them. The Heartless turned to the silver haired remnant with a tired expression and began to walk to him.

Kadaj fell, propping himself of on his forearms as Abyss approached, pushed down by the pressure of its strength. "BROTHER!!" Loz cried, but it was hopeless. Purple seals of darkness formed around Kadaj, surrounding him. With a black flame, all life left his body and he collapsed, dead.

"You… You killed him…" Yazoo was in shock.

Loz, however, rose to his feet and roared, charging at the being that dared kill his older brother. "**I'LL** **KILL** **YOU!!**", as lightning surrounded his extending claws. Abyss, however, simply caught the attack bare handed. It pushed the fist of the man many times its size back, forcing the embodiment of Sephiroth's strength to his knees with raw strength. "Guuh... What the hell!?"

Those were Loz's last words, as Abyss kicked him in the jaw, smashing it along with his skull. Riku and Tifa watched in helpless horror at the Heartless's cold brutality and power, while Kairi clenched her eyes shut, unable to watch as she cried.

"Loz…" Yazoo could see what was happening and, despite being the embodiment of Sephiroth's composure, scrambled on his backside, away from the heartless as it approached him, firing his gun wildly in fear at Abyss. The Heartless strode forward regardless, unconcerned with the wild shots. It only stopped to catch a broardsword that flew towards his face.

"Nice catch."

A large, red haired young man encased in scarlet and silver armour that left his head bare entered the bar. He pulled another large sword from behind his cape and entered a one handed stance. Two more people, smaller that the first, one in a dark blue cloak, face hidden underneath a large brimmed hat, the other in a white robe with red triangles adorning the edges, entered the room, to treat the two dead remnants. The one in white began to heal Loz's crushed skull, while the other absorbed the darkness from Kadaj. Both began to breathe again, until the one in blue stabbed Kadaj in the back with a knife.

"Marcus!" the one in white seemed furious and stormed towards the other.

"What? What did I do?" the one in blue, seemingly called Marcus, backed off, palms in front of him in surrender.

"You just killed him!!"

The one in armour shook his head. "Marcus wouldn't do that Whitney! I'm sure it was an acupuncture related accident or something!"

Marcus groaned and clutched at his head. "Falchion you idiot." He turned to the other, apparently called Whitney. "So I stabbed him, what's the problem? Jealous?" his body posture suggested he was grinning, "Because I have a dagger in my pants that would just _love_ to penetrate you _All Night Lo_-"

WHAM!! A warhammer sent him flying through the wall. Whitney pulled down her hood, revealing a beautiful young woman with red hair, much like the warrior Falchion's. She knelt over Kadaj and removed the knife, using her healing magic to close the wound.

"Erm… What's going on?" Tifa asked the obvious question.

"Well, we saw this guy" Falchion gestured to Abyss, the longsword in his hand might as well have been a spoon for the way he pointed it so carelessly, "get some orders from another guy to 'take out Sephiroth.' And since these guys are Sephiroth's remains, we figured that this fellow" again with the sword swinging at abyss "would go for these guys, which is why we're not letting them die, since we can't let this guy's boss get their way."

"Why?" Riku asked.

"Because he has an eye patch. He's clearly evil."

Tifa rose to her feet "Sephiroth WAS evil! He was insane!" she was angry. "He tried to destroy this entire world! He is the embodiment of Cloud's darkness!"

"But _noooo_..." came a sarcastic voice from outside, "_This_ guy has an _eyepatch_! He _must_ be evil!" Marcus came in, shaking his head. Glowing yellow eyes could be seen from underneath the darkness of his hat. "Honestly, sometimes I wonder why I haven't killed him yet."

"Hahahahah!" Falchion laughed. "Marcus, you crack up!" He smiled and sighed. "Best friends wouldn't kill each other!"

"No…" Marcus replied bitterly. "…They probably wouldn't…"

Abyss looked around then uttered the word "_...Traesto…_", then vanished in a swirling, indigo cloak.

"Huh," Falchion commented, "Coward."

"Wise decision actually…" Riku replied as he stood up. "No matter how strong you are, you can't win a fight when you're this out numbered." There were nine people in the damaged bar. Well, six, now that the remnants had fled during the conversation. "Now, who the hell are you?"

"WE! ARE! THE WARRIORS OF LIGHT!"

Falchion looked proud at his declaration, while Marcus face palmed. "I'm not," Whitney explained, "I'm more like the minder of the four."

"Four?" Kairi was surprised. "There's two more of you?"

"Raiden and Theon went after the leader guy."

"Falchion, why are you telling them that?"

"Because then you're less likely to slaughter them all." Whitney seemed angry. She turned to Tifa. "And they leave me to revive all the innocents!"

'_So there's one overpowered idiot swordsman, one murderous psychopath, and their minder. What are the other two like… wait…"_ Riku's thoughts caught up to his brain. "You let two of them go off on their own?"

"Oh, don't worry." Falchion was grinning. "Theon's smart. He can take care of himself." He thought for a moment. "He tends to take lots of things actually…"

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sam and Sean were each stood on the sky, looking straight into each others eyes, neither moving a muscle.

"They've been like that for over five minutes now…" Barret said.

"Yeah… why aren't they doing anything?" Enoch replied, his mission forgotten. "Hey, Braig, you knew Sean was that good?"

"No…" Braig was concerned. "A random human shouldn't be that good either…"

Sean suddenly disappeared, but was grabbed by Sam instantly, who threw the Heartless against the ground, moving as little as possible, nothing showing on his face. Sean rose again, power coursing through the crimson veins of power covering its flesh. Sam moved his hands towards the front of his hips, whispering "_Ryuushi_" as wind brushed around his limbs.

Sean's eyes widened, then it increased the rotation speed of its fire sword chain. Sam, however, moved in, weaving his way through the blades as he went hand to hand against the Heartless, as the ring of fire span and turned, moving like a sphere of flame. Both sides dodged each others blows with increasing difficulty, until eventually Sean moved back and, cancelling the fire blades, raised its arm towards the sky, crying "_Crimien Vesica!!_"

A huge sword of red energy rose from the ground, engulfing Sam. It didn't hurt, but his eyes shifted into focus as the wind surrounding him dissipated. "The Hell!?"

Sean, seeing that its opponents defence was lost, pointed its other hand towards Sam and said, grinning, "_Cero._"

"Ah Crap." Sam quickly shifted to block as the red blast engulfed him. As it dissipated, he fell to the earth, his hair back to his normal brown. Sean laughed as its opponent impacted against the broken tower, crimson lines withdrawing to within its cloak. It stopped laughing, however, when the smoke cleared and it saw Sam, blood seeping out of a smiling mouth, as he held up a gun the size of a small child. "GUNDAMNATION!!" he roared, pulling the trigger, letting lose a volley of grenade sized bullets. The first few hit their mark, drilling into the Heartless's flesh and exploding inside, but many missed. It screamed in agony as Sam rose to his feet, gun arm now broken from the recoil. He released the empty ammunition clip and the bolter disappeared in a grey mist. Sam's sword formed in his left hand in a similar smoke, and he rushed into the sky towards the wounded Heartless. Sean grunted, and summoned its own weapon, and dove forward to attack.

CLASH! Both swords were blocked by a shortsword, each held by a ninja with blue hair. "Enough" he said, grabbing each by their weapon and throwing them both to the ground.

FLASH! Braig and Jack flashed into existence and grabbed their respective teammates. Thousands of small fireballs flew across the sky; each one not that powerful, but the sheer magnitude of them posed a serious threat.

"_REFLEGUN!_" Sora cast, protecting himself, Barret, Rufus and the Turks from the bombardment. Enoch struggled to block the thousands of magic missiles, while Cloud and Zack were forced to stop attacking each other to defend themselves. A man in a red cloak walked into view, long silver hair flowing from underneath his red feathered hat, the spells originating from a sphere of mana surrounding him.

"Got it under control Theon?" the man in red asked.

"I think we got their attention." The ninja replied, now standing next to him with his arms folded, the fireballs somehow all missing him. He looked at the tower's remains and sighed. "Will you look at that?" he complained. "I could have stolen that."

The fireballs stopped. "You mean you can't now?"

"Well, yeah, but what'd be the point? I mean they've already lost it, so there's no fun in it." Theon turned to his ally, "You okay for magic?"

"I could go on for another thirty two minutes, but I thought we had something evil to kill?"

"Right you are Raiden." Theon turned to look at Braig. He frowned however, as Abyss appeared behind the Heartless in charge.

Braig turned to Abyss. "How'd it go?" it said, smiling. However, the smile faded as Abyss shook its head. Theon grinned.

"Heh, he's lucky Falchion didn't rip him to pieces."

"Or Marcus blasted him to oblivion." Raiden added.

"Nah. That would've been quick." Theon replied, shaking his head. "He'd have lived for a few seconds against Fighter."

"Thanks Jack." Everyone turned to look to see Sam, who was now fully healed. He got into a swords stance and Jack called his Warscythe.

Braig looked at them, then to the two newcomers, and then to Cloud and Sora, then gave the order. "Abort! Let's get out of here!"

"What!?" Sora shouted, "Afraid of getting a little hurt?"

"Me? As if!" Portals of darkness appeared around the organisation members. "I just don't want to break these rookies. See ya!"

With a wave, it vanished into the darkness, carrying the injured Sean with it. Abyss, Zack, and Enoch followed suit.

"Hey, WAIT!" Sora shouted, diving for the closing doors, but Lea grabbed his wrist. "Huh?" Sora exclaimed, twisting around.

"Let 'em go Sora." Lea explained, "They're gone."

Sora glared at him, but sighed. "Dammit…"

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

So, I'm back. Sora didn't do much in this chapter, and I'm sorry about that. But I needed to introduce these new guys properly. As for the cameo's I'll go ahead and list the series' that I've cameoed, but it's up to you to find them.

Dragonball Z  
Bleach  
Elfen Lied  
Shin Megami Tensei  
Persona 3  
Naruto  
History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi  
Discworld  
Nation  
Final Fantasy  
Warhammer 40,000

There may be more, but I can't remember them off the top of my head. Some are obvious, while some are not. Some are obscure, some are famous. I have not, however, cameoed 8-bit Theater, even though it may seem that way.

Anyways, I'm back from my week long break. I'll do FES next, and dude, did I get some good ideas concerning THAT series during my holiday. However, I had some writers block with this, which is why this chapter took three days to do.

Still, I like how this fight turned out. Tell me what you think! I'm looking forward to it.

Also, someone has correctly guessed what Abyss is. I'm just going to say that I'm keeping my two stories (and One Eye of the Demon) separate from each other, so don't worry.


	11. Chapter 11

Sora sat down, giving up. "Alright, first of all…" He pointed at Sam, who had just walked over from the broken tower with Jack. "What the hell!? And what is up with Lunas? Or Jack, or whatever?"

Jack looked to Sam, who shrugged. "We're the Warriors of Twilight."

Theon nodded. "Blessed by the Crystals, correct?"

"Huh?" Sora looked at him in confusion while Sam and Jack nodded.

"The Crystals grant power to rag-tag teams of adventurers." Raiden explained. "Fire, Water, Earth and Wind. Those blessed find each other through destiny, or they are blessed because they teamed up together. Either way, they are loaned the crystals power until they solve their crisis." He checked that Sora was getting this, then explained further; "We are from the Warriors of Light, I am Earth, and Theon is Wind. Enoch was from the warriors of Dark."

"And those two are Twilight?"

"Yeah, but I'm not sure how many other bands of warriors there are…"

"I do!" Jack exclaimed. "Light, Dark, Twilight," He began, counting off his fingers. "Dawn, Dusk, and Death, are in effect."

"Death?" No-one else other than Twilight had heard of that one.

"Anyway, back to explaining." Sam interrupted. "Typhoon has the Keyblade of Twilight. Rather than being able to unlock all locks and doors, like the Keyblade of The King," He gestured to Sora's Keyblade, "Twilight has the unusual ability to create doors and locks where there were none. Meaning he could call the members of Organisation XIII that he trusted, and summon the others from The Abyss."

"What's tha-" Sora began, but then he remembered. "Is that the place where I fought Xeanhort's Heartless?"

"Probably." Sam began. "I've never been. It's basically where the Heartless go when they're defeated, but not ready to return to normal."

"Wait… Didn't that Zack mention a heartless named Abyss?" Lea asked. "If that's the Heartless that appeared towards the end, then we can assume that that one was Number Thirteen, the number reserved for the organisations super weapon."

Badabadabababadada! Everyone turned to Cloud. Badabadabababadada! He answered his phone.

"Hey Tifa. Yeah, I'm fine, why? … … Wait, What? … … I'll be right there." He hung up. "I gotta get back. Seventh Heaven's been attacked."

"WHAT!?" Sora exclaimed. "How's Kairi? And Riku?"

"They're fine, but come on!" He rushed for his Bike, Sora followed. As he mounted, Cloud turned to Theon and said "Thank you." Seeing the ninja's puzzled expression, he added "If you hadn't sent your friends to the bar, my fiancée would be dead."

"Um…" Truth was, Theon only sent Falchion and Marcus to take out Abyss, but he was an opportunist. "Sure, no problem."

Sam turned to Jack, but he was already gone. He sighed and floated in the air. "I'll come too. It's my fault for not expecting Typhoon to launch an attack at the Seventh Heaven."

Sora pulled his goggles over his eyes. "Just whose side are you on?"

Sam smiled. "The side that wins."

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Holy…"

Cloud and Sora couldn't believe the state of the bar. The front door had been broken down, and there was a huge hole in the western wall. Almost all of the tables and chairs were smashed, and the bar itself was next to destroyed. "Tifa!" Cloud shouted, running up the stairs.

Sam pulled out his phone and began to text. "What are you doing?" Sora asked him.

"I know a guy who can fix this."

Sora looked around. "That's good… I can't believe how bad this is…"

Sam sent his text and closed his phone. "Don't worry, this guys a miracle worker."

Cloud came down a few minutes later. "How is everyone?"

Cloud shook his head. "Tifa's still shook up about it. She was fine until the whole thing sunk in. Must have reminded her of the sector seven bombing…"

"The what?"

"Shinra crushed the entire sector seven in order to wipe out the Eco-Terrorist faction AVALANCHE. They murdered hundreds of innocents and destroyed thousands of homes just to kill half a dozen rebels." Sam shook his head. "The three rebels they did kill were shot during the bombing, and the other three members escaped."

"Who were they?"

"Me, Barret and Tifa."

"Oh…"

Uncomfortable silence.

Then something clicked inside Sora's head.

"Wait… Where's Riku and Kairi?"

Very good question. Now it's an awkward silence.

"Let's see…" Sam pulled a book out from his jacket, the work "Riku" visible on the spine between his fingers. He opened it to an early page and scanned it. "He's training in the Forgotten City with Marcus. Kairi's with him, but training under Falchion and Whitney."

"Who? Where? WHY!?"

"Marcus and Falchion are the Warriors who saved your friends, and Whitney is their ally."

"The Forgotten City is up north, completely deserted." Cloud answered Sora. "It's across the sea, a day's travel away on land, so they must have teleported."

"And as for the why, well that's obvious."

Sora turned to the new voice behind him, finding Theon. "How'd you catch up to us?"

"I stole some time. Now," he looked at Sora. "Do you want to let those two work so hard to catch up to you while you sit around and do nothing, or do you want to work hard getting stronger as well?"

"What do you think? Of course I want to be stronger!"

"Good. Then we leave tomorrow."

"And I'm off." Sam inserted. "Bye!" He disappeared.

"Hey!" Sora turned for him, but gave up after he left.

"We're gonna have to fix that." Theon said as he left as well.

Cloud and Sora were left alone in the destroyed bar.

"Come on, We can fix this tomorrow…" Cloud said, leading Sora up the stairs. "Guest rooms over there. You can use that."

"Thanks… Oh!" Sora remembered. "That guy Sam said he was sending a guy over to sort it out."

Cloud nodded, yawning. "We could use the help. Night!"

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Whitney and Kairi were fast asleep by the campfire, while Falchion was on guard.

Riku and Marcus, however, were some distance away from the camp, in the darkness among the trees.

"Right. First I'm going to teach you how to use the darkness."

"I can do that already thanks." Riku answered coldly.

"Please. You think a few orbs of Shadow and a dark barrier is being able to use the darkness?"

"I can transform with the power of the darkness. I also have Light, to protect myself from that darkness."

Markus nodded. "A Chaos Paladin huh? We'll get Idiot and Hotness to help you with that later, but first you need to learn some humility."

Markus's golden eyes turned orange, and a black spike shot out of him, impaling several trees in a row.

"What the…" Riku turned back to Markus, who was now glowing deep, dark orange with many jet black tendrils emanating from him.

**This is mastery** Markus told him. **When the darkness controls you, the aura is Black or purple, but when you control the darkness…**

"Orange…" Riku answered. "But I won't be able to use that will I? Because I am a 'Chaos Paladin', right?"

**Correct**

The aura died down and the tendrils were reduced to a dark mist. "Because you chose the middle road, to become a user of Light and Darkness, you cannot achieve mastery in either." Markus explained.

"That's fine." Riku answered. "So long as I can use enough of them to fight for my friends."

"HAHAHA!!" Markus laughed darkly. "You have low ambitions kid. Raise the bar, aim high and all that crap." Markus grinned from the shadows of his hat, golden eyes glowing in the darkness. "I'm gonna teach you to be a true Yin/Yang bomb. You will be unstoppable."

"Hmph."

"Well…" Markus turned away and started walking. "Except for perhaps… Nah, you'll be fine." He turned back to Riku. "Right. Let's begin."

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Hey there."

Sora opened his eyes, finding himself in a field, with Roxas looking over him. "Oh… hi." Sora got up.

"I've got an experiment. Wanna help?"

"Huh?"

Roxas grinned, and three monuments rose from the ground, forming a triangle around Sora. A Sword, A Shield, and A Staff appeared on each one. "Pick one," Roxas said. "And throw away another."

"I remember this…" Sora began. "The Sword brings power, and destruction." He turned to the other two items. "The staff of wonder and ruin… The shield that repels all and protects all…" Sora walked forward and chose one the items. Taking one off the pedestal, he then walked back to discard another.

"Very interesting."

"What Roxas?"

"Well, last time you did this, you didn't have to discard a power." Roxas began. "So, you chose the power of the Mystic. The first time you did this, you sacrificed, no; you rejected the power of destruction so you could protect your friends with the shield. Now look at your choice this time."

Sora looked at the sword in his hand, and the shield left on the floor. "You chose the power to destroy your enemies" Roxas began, "Over the power to protect what is important to you. That will cost you, because now your destiny is set in stone."

The pedestals, plus the weapons vanished. "What… what do you mean?" Sora asked, trembling.

"You will defeat Typhoon. There is no doubt about this. However…" Roxas looked back at Sora, smiling. "You will not be able to control the costs for your destruction. Wanna know something else interesting?"

Sora was angry now. "What?" he felt tricked.

"You didn't reject the promise of wonder and ruin." Roxas explained. "I wonder how that will work out for you..."

Sora was fuming at this point, and something clicked in his brain. "You… you aren't Roxas are you?"

"Of course I am."

"But you were never in Organisation XIII were you?"

"_I _wasn't, but you were." Roxas answered. "But then again… I am you… so maybe I was a member at some point…" He shrugged. "Who knows?"

"RRARGGH!" Sora charged at Roxas to punch him in the face. He never hit.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The figure stood in the raining city, hidden in amongst the shadows of the broken city. He looked walked through the broken door of the building and looked at the devastation within. In addition to the missing entrance, there was a huge hole in the western wall. Almost all of the tables and chairs were smashed, and the bar itself was next to destroyed. The figure sighed, muttering something to himself. Raising his hands at right angles, he clapped them; his face was illuminated by the blue lightning surrounding the palms.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

'Mmm…"

Kairi woke up, surrounded by bone white trees. Riku was sleeping in the ground, with Markus snoring against a tree, his face hidden by his hat, which acted as a blindfold against the sunlight. They both looked exhausted.

"They are. They were training all night."

Gah! Kairi span around to see Whitney, smiling slightly. "Darkness is easiest to use in the dark, so Markus was working hard teaching him. Well!" Whitney got up. "Now it's our turn! Let's teach you some white magic before Falchion wakes up!"

"Right!" Kairi got to her feet enthusiastically.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sora mumbled down the stairs early that morning. He shifted from groggy to alert however, when he saw the state that the bar was in.

Perfectly fine.

Not just repaired, but the whole place looked cleaner and newer than it was when they came. There was a note on one of the tables.

_Sorry I couldn't repair the high score on the pinball machine, you're gonna have to earn that back yourself._

Wow… that guy Sam got was good.

"You ready?"

Huh? Sora turned around to see Theon and Raiden waiting by the door. He nodded, smiling. "Sure. Just let me get my bike."

"Here." Theon tossed Sora the keys.

"Huh? But weren't these in my pocket?"

"He's good at what he does." Raiden answered, turning to his teammate. "Give everything else back."

Sighing, Theon blurred, returning all the cutlery, cups, money and chairs he took. "There. Happy?"

"And the tables."

Theon scowled, but three tables suddenly appeared around the bar. "Now can we go?"

"If that's everything…"

"You can keep the knives." Cloud said, coming down from the stairs. "Never got why you needed twelve different knives for one meal…"

Cloud looked around the bar. "This is…" he smiled. "Thank him for me next time you see him. See ya Sora."

Sora nodded. "Right." He stepped outside with the two Warriors of Light. There were three bikes outside of the bar, one of them Sora's. He chose to ignore it, mounting on his own bike with Raiden and Theon riding their own mounts.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Two humans and eleven heartless sat in the darkness. Enoch's request to remain a member of the organisation had been granted by the general consensus, and Sean had been healed from its injuries by the leader. Typhoon, however, looked murderous.

"I set five of you out on a mission, and you return with only one of you injured, one powered up, telling me that you _ran away?_"

"When Abyss returned, we were outnumbered-" Zack began.

"Really? Let's see…" Typhoon looked at the report. "Zack, Abyss, Enoch, Sean and Braig against One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six credible threats, plus the Keybearer and some other weaklings that could easily have been dealt with by a few dozen Heartless!"

"Sean was injured…" Zack began

"And so were two of the threats! It was pure cowardice!"

"I was deadlocked against one of them, Zack against Cloud." Sean began. "That left Braig, Enoch and Abyss to deal with three enemies of similar strength to the one I was facing, plus the remainders." Sean looked at its master in the fourth seat. "I was under the impression that we were moving in groups to maximise the survival of our members, am I correct?"

"And Abyss had already retreated from unfavourable odds." Ienzo added. "I agree. To continue in that situation would have been suicide."

Typhoon sighed. "Fine then. However, I am sending my Soldiers to carry out the next mission. Now," He looked around. "Have the rest of you decided on your partners yet?"

"I will work with Ienzo." Said Aeleus.

"Myde and I have complimenting battle styles, so we would be a good bet together." Noted Ludor.

"That leaves me and you Ias." Remarked Dilan.

Typhoon leaned back, thinking to himself. _'The Nocturne and the Gambler. The Berserker and the Dragoon. The Hero and the Schemer. Not bad decisions actually.'_ "Alright, I will be in touch."

With that, Typhoon swung his Keyblade, creating a white hole in the darkness, and stepped through it.

"Well." Enoch stood up. "I'm out of here. I got stuff to do."

"As do I." Ias added, also leaving.

"Later." Sean added, as they all decided to leave.

Except one.

"…"

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Sire, there is someone who requests and audience with you."

Mickey looked up from his desk. "Please can you deal with him Goofy? I'm afraid…"

"I understand Sire. Hyuk!" Goofy bowed and left.

King Mickey leaned back in his chair, massaging his temples. The last thing he needed was more stress. This paper work itself was murder. He didn't have time to deal with people now…

"I understand you're busy, but this is in your best interest."

Mickey leaned forward, suddenly alert. There was a young human, leaning against the bookcase reading a book. Piercing eyes shone from his brown hair.

"How did you get in here?"

"Bookcase. Anyone who knows how can travel everywhere through them." The young man closed his book and approached the desk, placing a few pieces of paper in front of the king. "I recommend reading those first. Like I said," he moved towards the bookcase, "It's in your best interest…"

With that, he walked into the bookcase. No secret passages, just walked into the rows of books. The King decided to look at the document quickly with interest. He smiled, and pressed a button on his desk.

"Broom, call Donald and Goofy here, and tell Chip and Dale to prepare the Highwind."

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Add Fullmetal Alchemist, Discworld, 8-bit Theater, TV Tropes and Persona 4 to the Cameo List.


	12. Chapter 12

One week later…

CLANG! Falchion easily blocked Kairi's Keyblade, sending her back as Riku lunged. He sidestepped and hit him with the handle, swinging the blade to deflect Kairi's energy blast.

"RRAARRGHH!" Riku dove again for the warrior, Light surrounding his left hand and Darkness surrounding his right. He clasped the hands around his Keyblade and sliced it down, Light and Dark encircling the blade. It was blocked with difficulty though, but Riku just wasn't strong enough to force his blade down.

"_Holy Arrow!"_ A beam of light shot from Kairi's Keyblade, piercing the back of Falchion's head.

"Holy… Kairi!" Riku shouted in disbelief as the invincible warrior fell to the ground. "You… You killed him…"

Dark laughter came from the forest. "Don't get ahead of yourselves." Markus leaned against a tree as if nothing was wrong. Whitney, while seeming concerned, also did nothing to help her brother.

"Good shot Kairi."

The two Keybearers stared in disbelief as Falchion rose from the ground, blood pouring from the back of his skull. "Good teamwork too!"

"Gah!"

"Hm?" Falchion turned to Riku, who looked ill. "What is it?"

"AAH!!"

"Kairi? Something wrong?"

"Waddaya know," Said Markus, "He _does_ have a brain in there." He pulled a small bag of Munny from his robes and handed it to Whitney.

"You… you bet on whether or not we'd win?"

"No." Whitney replied. "He didn't believe Falchion had a brain."

"I should know." Markus replied. "I've been inside his head the most."

"Often with a knife!" Falchion chirped in happily. "Well, I guess you're ready now!"

"Um… hold on…" Kairi said, approaching Falchion. "_Curaga!"_ The wound healed slowly.

"Hey, thanks!"

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"I gotta hand it to you Sora," Raiden told him proudly.

"Course you do." Theon answered, biting into his boar. "If you didn't, I'd take it from you."

"You would take a compliment?" Sora asked him uncertainly.

"I also steal ideas, right from your head just as you think them."

"O-Kay..?" Sora had learnt not to be surprised by anything the two said. Theon was clearly a Kleptomaniac, and a very good one at that, and Raiden kept going on about Stats, Levels, Calculators and Percentages, as if they were in some kind of RPG. Thankfully, Theon agreed that Raiden was delusional, and advised him to ignore it.

Insane as they were, they knew their stuff, and had taught Sora well over the past week. Already his magic control had improved magnificently, and he had learnt a load of new skills from Theon. Sora had even begun to remember moves he'd done on the fly against Nobodies, as well as a lot of the Heartless. He'd even regained the Time spells that he thought that he'd lost long ago. Sora smiled in the campfire light.

Now he had the power to protect his friends.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Please. Don't kid yourself. You know I don't believe you."

Sora clenched his teeth. The thing that was not Roxas visited him in his dreams almost every night. Well, more accurately, Sora was forced to visit him, but it irritated Sora more each time.

"Come on. The power to stab an enemy in the back. The power to slow down time. The power to throw an enemy in the air and beat it into oblivion. The power to crush your enemies with their own strength. All for destruction." Roxas grinned at Sora. "You can destroy anything trying to hurt your friends, but that's not protecting them. That's just preventing the need to protect, and you know it."

"Shut it." Sora had been getting more and more aggressive towards Roxas. "You don't know what you're talking about!"

"Oh really?" Roxas folded his arms with a smirk. "Looked at the project lately?"

"That's what you're calling it now?" Sora walked towards the hole and, looking inside it, was surprised to see a matrix of metal girders. "What the hell?"

"Part of the support." Roxas joined sora. "Soon, concrete will fill the gaps between the steel, creating an unmovable, unbreakable foundation for what you will become."

Sora was concerned now. "Then why is it rusty?"

"It's not." Roxas explained, trying his best not to laugh. "Just a little dirty."

"HEY!" Sora turned on the blonde. "I am NOT being contaminated by darkness! Just look!"

The fields surrounding them were green, with only a few white clouds in the beautiful, clear blue sky. The sun was shining, it was a glorious day. "This place is the manifestation of my heart, right?" Sora poked Roxas in the chest. "You can tell I belong to the light."

"Oh, I agree." Roxas shrugged. "This is still only what _could_ happen." Roxas grinned, evilly. "At least… for know."

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sora woke with a start. He scowled. _'Damn that Nobody…'_

Looking around, Theon and Raiden were gone, as were their bikes. Sora got up, understanding why. His training was over; there was no need for them to hang around. Sora got up, thankful that his bike was still there, and got on it. He put the key into the ignition, praying against the worst as he turned it. The bike sprang to life.

"YES!" Theon hadn't stolen the fuel! Donning his goggles, Sora rode off towards the city where Cloud lived.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Hey guys! I'm back!"

Sora waved as he entered the Seventh Heaven.

"SORA!" Cried a raspy voice, "Thank goodness!"

Sora fell to the ground as he was tackled by Donald and Goofy. "Hey guys..!" he moaned, under their weight. "Good to see you too…"

One heart-warming reunion later, Sora, Donald and Goofy were sat around the table, filling each other in on the situation. They were surprisingly well informed, even knowing that He, Riku and Kairi had gone for training, and had waited in the Seventh Heaven for their return. Goofy explained that someone had given the King a report, explaining what was going on, and warning the king about something that would happen in the near future. The king didn't tell Donald and Goofy the details, but he said that it was urgent that Sora gather allies from amongst the world. Apparently, the worlds had moved into new positions in the universe over the past year, so many worlds were outside the reach of the Gummi pathways.

Kairi and Riku returned during the explanation, Sora not noticing their return until Kairi covered his eyes, asking him to "Guess who?"

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The group of five left on the Highwind shortly after, having made their goodbyes to the warriors of light, as well as to Cloud and Tifa. Lea was still recovering, but had told Sora that he intends to remain in the Turks until his old partner, returned.

"Nice…"

"Yeah…" Kairi agreed with Riku. "How come the Odin wasn't as good as this?"

"Heheh…" Sora laughed, embarrassed. "Well! I'm driving!"

"What, after last time?" Riku mocked.

"Hey, we had now weapons or defences. This time is different." Sora sat in the pilot's seat, manning the controls.

"Gawrsh Sora, Heartless Gummi's are headed this way!"

"Right. Donald, you control Durandal One," Sora ordered, deploying two teeny ships. "Riku, you control Durandal Two. Kairi, I'm putting you in charge of the shields."

"Got it."

"Alright!"

"Goofy, target the lasers, Chip, Dale? I need Falcon model Peak."

"A-Hyuk! Aye-Aye!"

"Got it!"

"Got it!"

Gummi's shifted around the cockpit as the Gummi ship shifted into the angelic form of the Highwind's fastest Design: The Falcon Peak. "Charging up the blades…" He said, glaring at the approaching fleet. "Preparing boost engines, everyone ready?"

"Yeah."

"Hm-Hm!"

"You BET!"

"A-Hyuk!"

"Ready and waiting!"

"Then let's GO!" Sora declared a fierce look on his face as he launched forward. Shields caught the first volley of the Heartless's attack, buying the Falcon enough time to enter the fleet and slice through the surrounding ships. Sora then flew the ship into a spin, firing shots at a rapid pace. Donald and Riku both flew their Teeny's well, and Goofy destroyed many enemies with the laser and missile systems.

"Shields are back!" Kairi told everyone.

"Great!" Sora shouted. "Let's go!" he said, relinquishing fire long enough to force the Gummi forwards at a high velocity.

"Sora!" Goofy announced. "There's a world up ahead!"

"Which is it?"

"Erm… Land of Dragons, A-Hyuk!"

"That's where Mulan lives!" Sora said excitedly.

"Yeah… I remember that Emperor…." Riku added wistfully. "I wonder how he's doing…"

Kairi looked at everyone reminiscing, sighing. _'Everyone fought together at that time… making new friends… nee memories… I was always alone…_

Kairi looked up, determination in her eyes. _'This time… I will too!'_

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Yep, short chapter this time, but you guys needed an update, and I need sleep.

You may be annoyed that I skipped the training, but you'll see the results in this world. It's fairly important for the plot.

Persona will be updated next.


	13. Chapter 13

Alright, today I'm going to try something different.

I started this story before Fairly English Story, spent much longer planning it, so why does this story have half as many chapters? Simple. I prefer writing in first person. It's easier for me, I can keep in character more, and I can do more with the descriptions and the inner workings of the characters mind. However, unlike with Persona, I'll do something different.

The story will be told from the Point of View of whoever is leading the party at the time. Be it Sora, Riku, Goofy, Sam, Leon or Typhoon. I'll mark switches with this:

Character

Yeah, so if a character's name is in the centre, then it's their turn to lead the party. There will be a few party changes, so it should be fun. Don't worry, each character will think differently, and Sora will get the most page time.

Now, to answer reviews. Only First, Luna Moonsurf. If they're Heartless, then I don't think that they can be either gay or straight. At least, that's what's happening in my story.

And thanks Elodus and NinjaShiek. I appreciate your support, and for everyone else.

Ash Like Snow works well with this chapter.

EDIT: I've altered this chapter for realism.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sora

"Hey… is that…" I squinted at the guy in black and red armour. "Captain Shang! HEY!" I waved at him to get his attention.

He turned to face us. "RIKU!" he walked over us. "Sora, Donald and Goofy!" Man, I can't believe he picked him out over us… "It's good to see you all. Hello there." He added, noticing Kairi.

"Hey, I'm Kairi." She said cutely. Man, it's good to have her with us this time…

"Li Shang, good to meet you."

"So, what did we miss, Captain?" I asked.

"It's General now." He said proudly, but then he groaned. "But it's not a good time really…"

"Huh?" Donald quacked.

"Why not?" Came Goofy. Man, I missed having them around too.

"We're at war." He said sombrely.

"What!" we shouted in unison. Even Riku was surprised.

"Unfortunately…" Shang turned and started walking, a sign for us to follow.

"A young man approached the palace some time ago." He told us. "He demanded that we either grant control of the world to him, or he would take it by force."

"What did you do?" I asked.

"We refused. So, now he returned with an army."

"Alright!" I ran in front of him and saluted. "Permission to wear my old uniform, sir!"

"We never gave you any, but thank you." Shang smiled. "However, that may change once you see the army."

"Hey, if we can beat the Huns, we can beat anybody!"

Shang walked us to the city wall. "We thought so too…" he answered sadly, gesturing over the castle wall. I looked over, and what the heck?

Remember those troopers from before? The ones that surrounded my house while Typhoon robbed the place and Even attacked my parents?

Imagine a thousand of them. Camped about half a mile from the city.

"We estimate approximately three thousand troops. They've been positioned there for three days now, and are anticipating an attack at any time."

Man… not good… "Was this guy blonde?" I asked Shang, "Did he have a Keyblade?"

"Hm? Yes he did. Do you know him?"

I nodded. "Typhoon…"

Riku looked straight at Shang. "We need to see the Emperor."

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The emperor, however, was in his bed, dying. Not immediately, but I could tell that he wasn't long for the world. I wanted to give him a big smile and thumbs up, saying "It'll be alright!", but I couldn't lie like that. Not since I knew.

"You'll be alright!" Kairi said, cheerfully. "My healing magic will get you back on your feet in no time!"

Wait, what? "Y-you can do that?"

Kairi looked at me and nodded. "I'll give it a shot!"

I smiled. "Thanks Kairi. Don't worry," I told the emperor. "You're in good hands. We'll take care of Typhoon!"

Kair nodded. "Come back safe, alright?"

I winked and gave her a thumb up. "Sure! I promise!"

We left Kairi in there as us boys left with Shang. "Well, with you guys here, we can finally attack."

"Wait, you were waiting for us?" Riku asked.

"More like hoping. We were going to attack within a week as it was, but you guys are stronger than any soldier."

"Right!" I shouted proudly. "What's the plan!?"

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Riku

Dammit, Sora's an idiot. As usual.

So, he's gone to the front line with General, while I'm here with his friends, Donald and Goofy (?) on standby to lead the defence. Except knowing Sora, we won't be doing anything. Boring.

Actually, no, not boring. I'm more worried than bored. See, I don't think Sora appreciates what war is actually like. Yeah, he says he can do it, but has he actually killed before?

"He did kill that Leopard in Deep Jungle first time we met him, A-Hyuk!"

That's true, but there's a big difference between killing a wild animal in self defence and going out to slaughter a load of humans.

"How do you know they're human? They could be robots, or a new kind of Heartless!"

Trust me, they're human. Robots don't beg for their lives, neither do Heartless.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Kairi

This was not good. I can't believe that I lied to Sora…

I didn't have much choice. This man was dying. I know he's dying, and he knows he's dying, but I don't want Sora worried about him if he goes to fight.

I'm worrying enough about him as it is…

"You worry for your love, child…"

Gah, he's awake! "Never mind me, how do you feel?"

"Like I'm dying. It happens when you live for too long."

Giggle. That was actually pretty funny. "You don't seem bothered about it do you?"

"Everyone has their time… My sons are foolishly searching for a way to become immortal for me… although Ling seems to be doing it for himself. If he manages it, I suppose that I'll have to give the country to him…"

"Would that be a problem?"

"He was always a rather greedy one… if left unchecked, he could lead this country to ruin…" the emperor sighed. "Greed is after all one of the uglier sins...."

"You talking about the seven deadly ones?"

"We have eight, but yes. They are the eight ways for a man to destroy himself." The old emperor lied back. "Lust, Gluttony, Sloth, Wrath, Regret, Greed, Pride and, the ugliest, Envy."

"Regret is a sin?"

"A way to destroy oneself… but I am the one that is dying, not you. Now, tell me about your worries."

"Erm… I'm sure you don't want to hear about them!" I waved away his offer.

He shook his head. "Not at all. A king is only a king for as long as he serves those in his country. I may be bound to this bed, but at least let me help you, child."

That was surprising. I really didn't expect an emperor who lived in such a palace to think that way. "Well, It's like this…" I began to tell him…

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sora

"Are the men ready?"

"Yes General!"

It was pretty cool how everyone was so eager to help and look after General Shang. Prertty cool actually.

"SIR! The enemy are in formation!"

"WHAT!?"

I looked over the castle wall. They weren't meant to attack for another three days at least!

Wait… this is my fault… they're attacking because I'm here…

"I'll buy you some time!" I shouted, getting ready to vault over the wall. "Finish your preparations!"

"Sora! Don't!" Shang ordered.

I flashed him a grin. "Don't worry, they won't know what hit 'em!" I jumped over the wall before he could stop me.

I had no plans for hitting the ground though. Remembering what Theon taught me, I flipped so my feet were against the wall, then remembered the Dragoon Nobodies, and used Jump.

Woah, I'm moving pretty fast! "_Hastera!_" I cast, and watched as the world slowed down. The enemy troops all turned into themselves to look at me.

Perfect. I landed and "_Fail-Safe!_" I watched as every soldier within a few feet was sucked underground. Then they started shooting at me.

"WOAH!" If it wasn't for my Warp Snipe ability, then I'd have been a goner, but I blocked the bullets and teleported like crazy to send them all back.

Warp!

Smack!

Warp!

Smack!

Warp!

Smack! I didn't even have time after hitting a bullet to see if it hit before I had to move again to hit another bullet. Warp!

Smack!

Warp!

Smack!

Warp!

Smack!

Warp!

Smack! "You know,"

Warp! "I'm"

Smack! "Getting"

Warp! "Tired"

Smack! "Of"

Warp! "THIS!!" I landed in front of a soldier and slashed with my keyblade. He parried with his gun though, and time seemed to slow down as we both hurried to get back into a stance we could attack from.

I was faster. For him, it was The End, as I brought my keyblade up onto his chin, knocking him up into the air, his helmet cracking. I pushed through him and sliced through several of his enemies, knocking him up into the air. I jumped after them, red mist surrounding me as I unleashed the Magna Storm. I hit harder and harder, faster and faster with each blow, until I eventually missed one and they all fell to the ground. I landed and swung for the enemy behind me, hitting the soldier's helmet and pushed past him as I fell down. I grabbed the keyblade with both hands, bringing the handle to my waist as I charged for the soldiers ahead of me.

BANG! "GAH!" I coughed up blood and fell down. I span and landed on my back to look at an injured soldier. His left arm was limp, and I could see his bleeding face through his broken helmet. he looked absolutely terrified, but he pointed his rifle at my head, out of reach for my keyblade.

Panicing, I grabbed a spare gun and pointed it at him, pulling the trigger.

The bullet went into his eye. He just stood there for a moment, then fell to his knees, the forward onto me.

The blood from his face seeped onto my chest. It was warm, sticky and. disgusting… I'd just killed this man.

I'd just killed him…

He was scared… and I'd killed him…

He was scared of _me_ and I killed him.

Looking around, loads of the enemies had broken armour. I don't know how many had bullet holes, or how many had had their skulls smashed in, but it didn't matter.

I'd killed them all.

An armoured hand broke through the soil next to me. "Gah!" I tried to crawl away, but I was too weak. The hand scrambled, scratching the dirt, then it started flailing madly, as if having a spasm, then it stopped stock still, rigid, as if it was trying to reach for something.

Reaching for air.

I'd buried those men alive… the nobodies just exploded underground, or disappeared, but these were humans…

People.

People with families, lives of their own to get back to. They surrounded me, standing back a safe distance, pointing their guns at me as if they were afraid. Afraid of some dying kid with a keyblade?

No… afraid of a killer who murdered so many of their friends. I closed my eyes and saw Roxas. The power to destroy my enemies right?

That's right… I asked for this…

It wasn't rust or dirt that stained my foundations…

It was blood.

The blood of those I'd killed.

"FIRE!"

I saw another face as the bullets exploded from guns. _Kairi._

I opened my eyes. Kairi.

That's right.

I have to live. I promised her that I'd come back safe!

BOOM!

Oblivion and Oathkeeper span around me, blocking the bullets. I floated there in Final Forme. This is war.

I swung my arm, sending Oblivion to slice through the enemies to my right. Blood splashed onto my cheek, but that didn't matter.

Swinging my left arm sent Oathkeeper to mow down more enemies, but that's what war is. Killing others so that you may live.

But this isn't war…

I crossed my arms in front of my face, bringing the two keyblades back to me as I brought my knees to my chest, floating in a ball. This is slaughter.

"I'm sorry… FIRAGUN!" I uncurled myself and the keyblades span around me in flames, consuming the remaining enemies that still opposed me, no, the survivors.

And the corpses. When the fire died, they were unrecognisable, just a pile of black skeletons.

I turned around, facing thousands of soldiers. They recoiled in fear just from me looking at them.

"How many?" I asked.

they looked confused, so I pointed to one as the two keyblades floated by my sides.

"Tell me how many I've killed."

"Erm... Erm... F-five hundred and thirty six?"

"Do I need to kill more?"

"RETREAT!" I turned to see a load of troopers, probably around five hundred or so, run for the mountains. I let them go. I didn't want any more people to die today. My clothed faded to black and my feet hit the ground. Oblivion and Oathkeeper melted into the Kingdom Key and fell to the ground. Once the real survivors were out of sight, I fell down to my hands and knees, panting for breath.

I threw up.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I opened my eyes to see Kairi. "Hey," She said.

"Hey Kairi…" I struggled to get up. "What happened?"

"They found you passed out on the battlefield, lying on top of a pile of…" She didn't want to say it.

"I'm sorry…"

"No… No it's okay." She struggled to smile. "You okay?"

"No." I can't lie to her. "I feel awful…"

Kairi nodded sadly. "I... I can't even begin to imagine how you feel Sora…"

"Trust me, you don't want to." It feels awful.

"I was so scared though… when I brought you in, you… you were all limp and covered in blood… I.. I…"

"It's okay. I'm sorry…" I sat up, bring myself into a sitting position. "I'm okay. Sorry to scare you like that…"

I looked at Kairi, but I couldn't tell what she was thinking.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Now do you see why I wanted to be able to work with their heads?

Also, yeah. This is not going to be like regular Kingdom Hearts fanfictions. Sora won't turn into a soulless monster, I can promise you that, but he's also lost a load of his innocence. Still once he gets over this, he'll be back to normal Sora, albeit changed somewhat.

Once again to make sure you get this. This slaughter will not turn Sora to the Emo, the Crazy, the Assassin, or anything else like that. Nor will he turn to the dark. Yes, I know the trilogy is called Darkside, but it's the _Side_ that is important. Sora is finding out that he has one, just like everyone else, but IT WILL NOT CONSUME HIM. Sora's heart is too strong for that.

So, yeah. Land of dragons over in once chapter. You weren't expecting it to be over this quick were you…

Sorry, I can't act happy and Jolly after writing that.

Well, Review. Tell me if you like this style of writing or if you want me to return to 3rd person.

Also, I'll be on hiatus for a few weeks, so yeah. The next time I update I'll be back in touch with my brainstorming buddy, so we'll get this going good after that.


	14. Chapter 14

Hey, I'm back! Sorry about my break, but it's gonna be worth it.

I've had mixed responses for my first person take, so I'm going to try 3rd person again.

WARNING – This chapter contains High Octane Nightmare Fuel. Seriously, I gagged just imagining this, and considered puking writing it. Read at your discretion.

I wrote this to lots of songs, but I recommend Nightmare's Jashin No Baara towards the end. Or, not, if you're reading this in the dark.

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"Let me get this straight. You fled with over two thousand men still uninjured?"

The sergeant looked at his infuriated master. "Mister Typhoon, Please, let me explain."

Typhoon reclined in his seat behind the desk. "Alright."

Sergeant Thomson looked around the room, almost for a way out of this situation. Between the blue rug, the white walls and the mahogany desk, it could pass for a regular presidential office, except it was on one of the largest Gummi freighters under Typhoons command. Not seeing one other than the door he came through, he sighed and came completed his report.

"The Target Sora displayed a surprising amount of power. Not only were our weapons ineffective against him, but he also was capable of eliminating multiple targets with a single blow. When we did get a lucky shot in, he healed and became more powerful. No matter how many soldiers you throw at him, it would be impossible without Art or Nullifiers."

Art. That was the code word for having an incredible tactical, geological, or psychological advantage over your opponent, name taken from the Art of War. Typhoon frowned. It would be difficult to get Art over Sora. Nullifiers, on the other hand, would be much easier, but still difficult.

"And how would you propose getting a Nullifier on him?" Nullifiers, when attached to a target, sealed all of their spiritual energy, thus robbing them of any superhuman abilities while it remained attached. The trouble was, however, the attaching.

"Honestly Sir? I would recommend giving the Brains in R&D a much bigger budget to either compress the technology into a bullet, or to find some other way to make it projectile. Any other suggestions I have would be to overpower him with a stronger Special."

Special. Another code word, this time meaning someone with those superhuman abilities, such as Sora, Cloud, Goofy, Theon.

Or Typhoon.

"Tell me this. Is he a Nuke?"

You really shouldn't need that codeword explaining. "Currently? No Sir."

"Very well." Typhoon sighed. "Dismissed."

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Back on the Gummi ship. Sora still wasn't himself. He wanted to leave the world as quickly as he could, almost as if he could run away from what he had done. Donald was piloting the ship, just to be safe. The shellshock was just setting in, and he had an almost glazed look in his eyes.

'_We're going to Radiant Garden now…' _Donald thought to himself as the world came into view. _'Maybe Leon can help…'_

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"Hey Leon!"

"Huh?" The current prime minister of Radiant Garden looked back from the wall he was building, and smiled. "Donald! Goofy! And Sora…" Leon's voice trailed off as his eye met Sora's, rising to his feet as the party approached. "I know that look…" He said. He sighed and punched Sora to the ground.

"The Hell!?"

Leon grabbed Sora by the scruff of his neck, lifting him to the air. "Listen to me! You did what you had to do to protect who you had to protect!" He barked, shaking Sora as he spoke. "Taking lives is a necessity in war! So don't you dare even THINK you did something wrong! YOU UNDERSTAND!!"

Sora was lost for words. "Erm… Y-yeah…" He pushed Leon's arm down so his feet touched the ground. "Thanks…"

"Good." Everyone turned to see Aerith. "We already have one moody soldier here, we don't want two" everyone laughed, and she continued, "It's good to see you too Kairi." She turned to Riku. "And I don't believe we've met… You must be…"

"Riku" He replied, offering his hand. "Nice to meet you."

Aerith took the hand and shook it vigorously. "Nice to meet you too."

"Hey!" The great ninja Yuffie appeared in a swirl of leaves. "Is no-one going to offer them a tour?"

"Tour?" Sora asked.

"Yeah," Leon nodded. "We've finished restoring the Hollow Bastion."

Aerith smiled. "Wanna look inside?"

The party, who had only before seen the ruined castle, all shouted in unison "YEAH!"

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"And this is Oversized Ballroom Eleventy Twelve." Pointed out an amused ninja.

"This one's special." Aerith noted.

"Why?" Kairi asked.

"It's where Cid got bored counting." Leon told them with a smile. "It's the actual name he wrote on the renovation plans. I'm thinking of having a plaque put up."

"_This is Oversized Ballroom Eleventy Twelve; The one where Cid got bored counting_, something like that?" Riku asked, one hand in front of him, lining out the invisible letters.

"Probably put a date and a carving of his ugly mug on it too, but yeah."

More laughs. "Come on," Yuffie said, "More rooms."

As she left, however, she saw two familiar black cloaks run down the hallway. "Wait… isn't that..?"

"The Organisation!"

Leon took command. "Let's go!"

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They pursued the cloaked figures down half a mile of corridors until the party reached a spiral staircase, going up and down.

"Dammit…"

"What is it Leon?" Sora asked.

"Up there is the Great Hall." Leon said, gesturing up the staircase. "That's where the Keyhole is."

"Let's go then!" Sora declared.

"Wait." Riku told him. "But the Room of Sleep is down there."

Everyone turned to him. "The what?"

"You don't know it?" he asked. When they shook their heads, he sighed. "Figures… Maleficent didn't either…  
"The Room of Sleep is the tomb of a previous Keybearer." Riku explained, registering the surprise on everyone's faces. "One named Aqua. Xemnas went there often to speak to her, and Xigbar often listened in."

"So, what would the organisation want from there now?"

"One time…" Sora said, "Xigbar told Zexion that he once heard another voice down there…"

"How do you know that?" Donald asked him.

"I've got loads of Roxas's memories; he remembers hearing that at one point."

"So, the organisation either want something from the Keybearers tomb," Leon said, "Or to open the door to darkness."

"They could also have wanted to reach the bottom of Rising Falls…" Kairi said. "I, I think I remember something being there… but I don't know what…"

"How do you know that?" Yuffie asked her.

"That's Right!" Sora pumped his fist into his palm. "I completely forgot!"

"Forgot what?" Kairi asked him.

"This is where you came from Kairi!" He told her. "I remember seeing your grandmother look after you here in a vision or something, and in the Ansem reports, it mentions sending one of the Princesses of Heart to the Keybearer, which must have been you!"

Kairi looked at Sora blankly. "I… I already knew that."

"Uh, wha?" Sora's jaw dropped.

"I have Namine's memories too, remember?" Kairi tapped the side of her head. "All the memories she affected of yours, she remembers. Which is most of them, remember?"

"Oh… Yeah…" Sora almost looked sad that his thunder had been stolen.

"HEY!" Donald quacked. "They're getting AWAY!!"

"Right." Leon again took command. "We'll split into three teams." He pointed at Riku. "Riku, you take Donald and Goofy down to the Room of Sleep," He said, pointing to the other two in turn. "You know where it is, so you have to lead it." He turned to Yuffie. "Yuffie, take Sora and Kairi down Rising Falls, see if they remember what the Organisation might be after." He turned to everyone. "Aerith and I will go protect the Keyhole, clear?"

"Got it!"

"Right!"

"Okay!"

"A-Hyuk!"

"Yes Sir!" Donald snapped to a salute.

"Yeah!"

"Then let's go!" Aerith broke into a run up the stairs. Leon followed her, and Riku lead Donald and Goofy downwards, leaving Sora, Kairi and Yuffie alone together.

"Alright!" declared the ninja. "This way!" She broke into a run.

"Yuffie!" Sora called after her. "That's the way we came!"

Yuffie jumped against the wall, span in the air, and came running back. "I knew that! Come on!" She shouted, running past them.

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Later…

"Huff… Huff… Riku…" Donald panted. "How… much... further..?"

"Just one more flight!"

"Right!" Donald perked up.

"Then a few miles through the corridors! Hurry!"

"WHAT!?" Donald fell onto his behind. "Oh no…"

"Come on Donald!" Goofy said, lifting the tired mage onto his shoulders. "I'll carry you the rest of the way!"

"I don't need your help you big palooka!" Donald protested. "Put me down!"

"A-Hyuk!" Goofy replied. "Hold on tight!" He broke into a run.

"BAwawawawawaa!" Donald screamed. "LOOK OUT FOR THE-!" His head banged against the doorframe he was about to describe, knocking him out.

"You say something Donald?" Goofy looked over his shoulder, running after Riku. "Donald?" He saw his unconscious friend. "A-Hyuk, Nice time for a nap if you're tired." He noted, turning his head forwards.

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"SO," Yuffie asked, "How long have you two been together then?"

"Huh?" Sora thought it an odd question for the time. "About… ten years now, I think?"

"Wow…" Yuffie nodded wistfully. "First love huh?"

Sora tripped on a stone. "WHAT!?"

Kairi, on the other hand, saw a chance to torment her friend. "Nah, just friends." She winked at Yuffie as Sora scrambled to his feet to run after them. "He's into Riku."

Sora fumbled his jump. Thankfully, he grabbed the edge of the floating rock just in time. "WHAT!?" he screamed, climbing back up.

The two girls stopped to let him catch up. "Really? I had no idea he was gay…"

"I'M NOT GAY!"

"Still in the closet then is he?" Yuffie asked.

"Oh yeah." Kairi nodded, giggling. "So far in he can see unicorns."

"Wow." Yuffie giggled. She saw Sora catch up to them. "You know, it's always been a fantasy of mine to turn a gay man straight."

"I told you, I don't swing that way!"

"Oh, that's a shame…" Yuffie gripped onto his shoulder and lifted her thigh against his. "Because we could have so much fun together…" She began whispering into his ear. "I would do things to you…"

"Hey!" Kairi grabbed Sora on the other side, squeezing her chest against his. "Don't hog him all to yourself!"

"That's fine…" Yuffie stroked her finger against Sora's chest. "I don't mind sharing."

"So, flip a coin?" Kairi suggested.

"I was thinking we shared him."

"Ooh…"

Sora, meanwhile, was turning a very deep shade of red. "Oh!" Yuffie gasped, looking down. "Looks like he's playing for our team already…" She sighed, letting go of Sora. "That was easier than I expected."

Kairi, on the other hand, couldn't keep a straight face any more, and fell to the ground, laughing.

"Kairi, no!" Yuffie shouted, grinning. "You're… You're gonna… set… me off…" But she fell to her knees, clutching her stomach, laughing her ass of. "Oh hell, that was hilarious…"

Kairi calmed down and opened her eyes, panting for breath. "The… The look on your face…" She looked at Sora. "YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN IT!" And she burst into another laughing fit.

"Oh, very funny!" Sora pouted, shaking his head. "Come on, knock it off."

"What's the matter keyboy?" Yuffie asked with a smile on her face as Sora walked past the two to the other edge of the floating stone. "Disappointed?"

Sora looked dead ahead as he said. "Somewhat." And he jumped off onto the next platform, hiding the grin on his face. Revenge!

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"Hey, There they are!"

Donald had recovered and was now riding on Goofy's back, pointing at the two cloaked figures up ahead. They were walking along, until one turned back and swore, breaking into a run. The other then looked back, then followed its companion.

"You're not getting away THAT easy!" Riku declared, launching himself forward, darkness flowing around his legs. He sped through the two figures and skidded to a halt as he summoned his Keyblade, blocking their path. One of the two hooded figures hunched slightly while the other looked back to see Donald jumping off Goofy's back, both of them blocking their retreat. "Who are you?" Riku declared.

The two figures removed their hoods, showing two black heads with glowing yellow eyes; one with tendrils forming a mullet, the other with piercings in its ears. "A diversion," answered Ludor with a smile.

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"Did we get here before them?" Aerith asked Leon as they scanned the Great Hall.

"We can't have…" Leon asked. "They must have gone one of the other ways."

"No, you guessed right."

Leon twisted around to face the stairs, his back protecting the keyhole. He glared at the blond young man, about his age and build, who climbed the staircase.

"My name is Typhoon." He said. He wore a white suit over a Black shirt and a Red tie, the buttons fastening the jacket together. "I actually hoped to face Sora here, but it appears he's gone after my distraction."

"You mean the organisation is working for you?"

"Oh yes, but I'm more interested in how he managed to force two thousand, four hundred and sixty four of my men to retreat, just by killing about five hundred of them in a couple of minutes…" He looked into Leon's shocked eyes and registered Aerith's surprise. "Oh, you didn't know? That your friend Sora was such a stone hearted killer?"

"Sora is not a killer." Leon growled. "You only had to look at him to see his remorse!"

"Oh, is that so?" Typhoon began pacing the room, his hands behind his back. "You truly do live up to your name, Squall."

"It's. Leon." He replied with ground teeth.

"That name too, but I prefer the one your parents gave you. Still," he turned to face him, "I guess I have no right to say that either, but I must ask…" Typhoon put his palms out in front of him, as if weighing two choices. "Do you prefer to be the Storm, or the Lion?"

"RRARGH!" Leon swung the Gunblade overhead at Typhoon, but was blocked by something very familiar. "WHAT!?"

"Oh, did I not mention that?" Smirked Typhoon, holding the Fenrir above his head. However, this Fenrir was different. It had no bandages, and the notches were more rounded. "I also hold a Keyblade, just like your Sora." He pushed up and Leon jumped back. "Now…" Typhoon said, getting into a stance. "Let us compare strength… The lion... or the wolf..?"

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"Nope. Nothing."

Sora, Kairi and Yuffie were looking around the tunnels beneath the Rising Falls. However, in the cold, wet darkness, there was little to be found.

That didn't mean that there was nothing.

"Hey, check this out!"

Sora and Kairi rushed to see what Yuffie had pointed out. There was a patch of wall that the shadows caught just slightly wrong. It was almost as if it wasn't actually a wall. Yuffie kicked it for good measure. She hit a piece of cloth made to look like the wall, then concrete.

"Alright. You got me."

They turned to the voice to see a young man in grey clothes perched on a pipe. "Lunas?" Kairi asked.

"Just an alias. Name's Jack, the Harsh Waters."

"So, why're you spying on us?" Sora accused him.

"Because I'm the youngest and none of the others could have passed for a schoolboy."

"No, why-?" Sora paused while he restructured his question. "Not why are _you_ spying, buy _why_ the spying at all?"

"Because I was told to."

"What's with all the questions?" Jack asked, tilting his head. "Honestly… I wasn't expecting the Spanish Inquisition…"

He looked around. "I SAID, I Wasn't Expecting The Spanish Inquisition!" after a moment of looking around, he sighed. "That never works…"

"What never works?"

"Nevermind…" Answered Jack, jumping down to the floor. "Look, you're looking for something hidden, right? Well, try looking here."

Kairi created a ball of light and pointed it where Jack pointed his finger. Sure enough, there was a slight engraving of a keyhole.

"Good enough for me!" Sora declared, aiming his Keyblade. "Open!" He said, shooting a beam of light into the carving. The wall rumbled and part of it fell away, creating a doorway.

"Let's go inside!"

"…"

"Wait…" Kairi asked.

"…"

"You guys hear that?" She asked.

"Kinda…" Sora replied.

"Let's go see what it is!" Yuffie announced, bounding into the darkness.

"Yuffie! Wait!"

"What? We have to…" Her voice trailed off. "By Levithian… SORA! KAIRI! THERE'S SOMEONE CHAINED UP DOWN HERE!"

"WHAT!?" Sora and Kairi rushed in, while Jack lagged behind.

"…"

Sora could barely see two hands chained to the wall. "Hold on…" He said, aiming his Keyblade. "I'll get you right out of there…"

"…"

He fired a beam of light into one chained hand and Kairi unlocked the other hand. Both arms fell to their owners sides.

"You alright? My names Sora, I'm here to rescue you."

"…sora..?"

"That's right…" Sora approached the figure in the darkness. "I'm a friend."

"You are not."

"Huh?" Sora was stunned by the rage in the prisoners' voice, even more so when an arm grabbed his throat and pushed him through the stone wall. "GUH!" He shouted, temporarily blinded by the sudden light.

"It'S yOuR fAuLt We'Re ThIs WaY!!" he heard scream. His eyes adjusted in the light.

"Holy…"

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"GARH!" Riku grunted, as water rushed through the dark, tight tunnels.

"Pick a card…" He heard in his ear. "ANY CARD!" as Ludor launched a stream of cards at his silver haired opponent. "GAH!!"

He fell to his knees in the water. _'Dammit…'_ He thought. _'If it was just one of them, this would be easy, but…'_ he couldn't complete his thought as he was blasted again by a torrent of water from the Melodious Nocturne. "MPH!" as the air left his lungs, winded by the high pressured water. Donald and Goofy were already down… and now…

Riku felt his energy return to him as a firm hand grabbed his shoulder. He looked up to see a young man in grey with long, brown hair smiling at him. "You alright?"

"Yeah, thanks. Who are you?"

The young man drew a straight shortsword from its sheath. "Callum." He said. "The Skilled Sands."

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"Guh!" Leon grunted as he fell to the floor. He looked over to the unconscious Aerith. Typhoon went for her as soon as he realised she could heal. Once she was down, it was already decided.

Typhoon panted for breath, gripping Fenrir tightly. Seeing Leon wasn't getting up any time soon, he smiled and flicked his hair back. "_Curaga_" He said, then moved for the stairs.

"My turn."

Typhoon saw a brown haired young man climb the stairs. "You must be the Sam I've been hearing about."

The warrior smiled. "The Calm Storm. You must be this upstart Gust I've been hearing about."

Typhoon smiled back. "Typhoon. Still, if you are as powerful a wind as you say you are, I guess you don't recognise the difference?"

"I recognise it." Sam replied, summoning his sword. "I just treat them the same."

"Very well." Typhoon said, getting into his stance. "Shall we dance?"

"Dancing is for pussies." He disappeared, reappearing just before Typhoon, his sword now stabbed into the ground through one of the holes running up the Fenrir. "Let's fight like Men."

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"SORA!!" Kairi and Yuffie ran through the hole, while Jack followed them slowly, knowing what was on the other side. He was therefore still coherent when he saw it.

Stood there, holding Sora into the air with both hands by the throat, were two people, or one thing. Standing in a bastardised version of the organisation cloak, it split into two torsos at the waist, connecting again at the shoulder, which was covered by one hood. It had two necks, two jaws, and one and a half heads of hair. A ruffled, pink mane cascaded down one neck. The other; sleek, golden blonde hair, overlapping each other like waves over a rock.

It had three legs.

One masculine left foot, coming from the left side of the left pelvis, one feminine right foot, coming from the right side of the right pelvis, then, with their other legs meeting at the knee, was a mutated, abomination of what was shaped like an elephants foot, only red, bloody and pulsating, bone searing out of the flesh, blood seeping from the horrific sores, unneeded muscles twitching under the scarred, misshapen skin.

It turned around.

"LoOk MaRlUxIa…" One mouth began to say. "It'S tHaT wHoRe, NaMiNe…"

"Be NiCe LaRxEnE…" Said a deeper voice from the other jaw. "We hAvEn't sEeN HeR In _sO_ LoNg…"

Kairi stared it the faces as it dropped Sora. One was masculine, the other feminine. Each face had one eye, but the faces joined at the ear, covered in scar and burn tissue from the nose to the ear, with one huge, misshapen eye in the centre, swivelling around madly, it had two pupils fighting for vision through that chaotic, unnatural orb.

It lurched forward, stump first, then the two back feet, like professor Frankenstein's entry into the thee-legged race. It stopped however, when its right ankle was grabbed. "WhAt?" Larxene asked, trying to twist her head away from Marluxia's, and failing, only managing to tilt the shoulders slightly.

"You… You're not getting her…"

"HA!" She shouted, raising her arm into the air, creating three kitchen knives in between her fingers, makeshift claws. "YoU ThInK YoU CaN StOp US?" Her smile faded, however, when those knives vanished. "HuH!?"

Jack appeared behind them, holding two of the knives in one hand and juggling the third in another. "Probably not alone, good thing he's not, right?" He threw the knives into the ground and summoned a Warscythe. "Sora?"

Sora struggled to his feet, massaging his throat. "R-Right…" He summoned the Keyblade, equipping the Guardian Soul. Kairi gripped her Keyblade, and got into her stance, Keyblade held in one hand, between her and her opponent, like a fencer, and Yuffie span her giant shuriken.

Marluxia and Larxene looked around them in disgust and, in one fluid movement, summoned three more knives and a farmer's scythe. "CoMe On ThEn!!"

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Don't say I didn't warn you.

I need to thank Ravenwingcorps here. If it wasn't for him demanding I make the first fight in One eye of the demon, chapter 14 have more gore, I wouldn't have put so much effort into the last fight in that chapter. And If I didn't do that, then I wouldn't have even considered writing this abomination into the story. So, current fights that will go down in the next chapter are:

Sam Vs. Typhoon

Riku and Callum Vs. Myde and Ludor .

Jack, Sora, Kairi and Yuffie Vs. Larxene/Marluxia Abomination

Place your bets, ladies and gentlemen.


	15. Chapter 15

Alright, more fights. I wrote this chapter while listening to the "Not accepted Anywhere" album by The Automatic. Their songs are fairly similar, so just pick one and stick it on repeat, swap it for another if you get bored.

Also, lots of combat this time, with more focus on the main characters this time.

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"_FIRAGA_!" Sora surrounded himself with a sphere of flame to protect himself from the thorned spears rising from the ground. When he could see again, Yuffie was pinned to the wall by knives, trapping her in an electrical net. "Yuffie!" he cried, as thorny vines rose from the walls, trapping her.

"YoU shOUld Be mORe ConCernED wITH youRSelF, BoY!"

Sora span round, blocking the scythe blow with his Keyblade, and saw Jack rise up behind their opponent, holding a mysterious bow made of energy. His eyes widened, and the thing twisted around to see Jack. Laughing, Larxene hit him with a lightning bolt, making the arrow miss its mark entirely.

Sora landed and, aiming his Keyblade, "_Gravija!_" The dark energy encased the monster, bringing it to the ground with an almighty smash. Panting, Sora relaxed for a second, and was rewarded with a knife in his collar bone. "GAAAAHH!!!" He cried, as electricity coursed through his body.

"You'RE NoT geTTinG Rid oF Us ThAt EasY!!"

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Riku, on the other hand, was having much better luck. Letting the Keybearer of darkness lead, Callum followed his lead, almost as if he was psychic, all the while making the best use of the terrain.

"Myde, take the tall one."

"Got it." The Nocturne replied, rushing Callum with a torrent of water, and they were closed off by a wall of cards, trapping Riku and Ludor together.

"Now, let's play a game…" It said.

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"DANCE WATER DANCE!" Came the cry from the other side of the cards, as Myde encased itself in water, protecting it as it played its summoning song.

Callum looked at the moving water puppets and held out his sword in front of him. "Cry." He said. "Fumouchitai"

The sword turned to sand and collapsed, reshaping itself as a scythe. The handle was of a dark wood, its blade a silver blue. Holding it like a sword, he swung it, slicing through six of the aqueous beings in one blow. Grabbing a side handle at the peak of his swing, he carried the attack through behind him, destroying another four. He gripped the shaft again with his right hand and, grabbing a smaller handle with his left, mowed down the water spirits quickly as if they were wheat in a field.

"Interesting sword." Myde noted, as the bubble it was in collapsed.

"Want to see its full form?" Callum asked, goading his opponent.

"It changes again?" Myde was surprised. "Alright then. Show me."

Callum closed his eyes and got into a fencing stance, but with the scythe in his back hand. Breathing deep, he whispered the full name of his blade.

"Fumou Chitai no Gunjin…" As the energy gathered around the scythe he snapped his eyes open and roared "BAN! KAI!!!"

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"That's odd."

Typhoon, now wielding the Two Across, parried Sam's blow. "What is?"

"Well, you were described as much more powerful than you are now." Typhoon evaded a slash and made a counter. "I suppose that's only when you change into your golden haired form then?"

"Not necessarily." Sam answered, dodging the stab. "I generally offer my opponents three choices. Red, Yellow, or Blue."

"Oh?" Typhoon commented. "You haven't made me that offer yet."

"That's because you couldn't handle it."

"Try me. I pick blue."

"Alright then." Sam leapt back across the room. "How's your magic?"

"Pretty good." Typhoon replied, swapping the Two Across keychain for the Winners Proof. "This going to be a magic duel then?"

"Pretty much." Sam stated, taking a deep breath. His hair began to grow in length and it faded into a dark blue colour. He lifted his head, and his eyes were completely black, as if it was all pupil, no iris. Stabbing his sword into the ground, he asked. **"Are you ready?"**

Typhoon smiled, and lifting his hand quickly, shouted "_Ultima!!_"

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"RRARRGH!!"

Jack crawled out of the crater the lightning attack had forced him into. He saw his reflection in the glassy stone beneath him. His hair had become green, wild and long, and his skin had turned into green energy, his muscles visible beneath it. _'Channeler form huh?'_ he thought. _'Well, that was lucky. Good think I bothered learning how to transform automatically when in danger.' _He lifted his hands and thought in a mocking tone, _'Don't bother learning that, Jack, you'll never need something like that, Jack, not with your speed, Well who's laughing now, remtards!?'_

"You'RE NoT geTTinG Rid oF Us ThAt EasY!!"

Jack twisted around to see the mutated figure crawl out of its own crater. Its bones were broken, their faces mangled, but they healed together, broken skin replaced with sore, weeping scar tissue. "Ew." Jack thought. "Still, Guess I'm not so pretty right now." He charged towards the abomination, green glow becoming an icy wind, making his sinews and muscles perfectly visible as he tackled Larxene and Marluxia, freezing them as they fell.

Woosh! They disappeared in a cloud of cherry-blossom petals. Jack rolled in the ground to grab the scythe aimed for his back, kicking Marluxia's chest while Sora smashed his Keyblade into Larxene's. Ribs broke. Ribs tore through flesh and cloak. Ribs regenerated, leaving bony spikes jutting out from their sides.

"Frigg crap!" Jack said.

Sora looked at his ally. "Gah!"

"What?" Jack turned his skeletal head to Sora. "Oh, right. Yeah, I powered up my transformation." He explained. "So, now I'm a skeleton covered in energy under these clothes. Cool, no?"

"Uh… Yeah…" Sora mumbled, "Sure…" He turned to his opponent. "We gonna take care of ugly now?"

"UglY?" Larxene screeched.

Marluxia brought his hand up to Larxene's cheek, lovingly. "YoU've AlwaYs BeeN beautiful In mY EyEs…"

With great effort, he twisted his face closer to hers. With the sounds of creaking bones and snapping scar tissue, Marluxia got his mouth close enough to Larxenes to snake his elongated tongue down her throat, caressing her insides.

She enjoyed it.

"Alright," Jack announced. "We are _SO_ killing it with fire."

"Gonna summon that demon thing again?"

"Got a better idea." Jack's flesh returned as the energy rushed to his fist, which he smashed into the ground "BAHAMUT!" He cried, as the summoning circle grew from the fist.

Marluxia drew his face away from Larxene's, blood and pus seeping from the cracks and sores in the wounded tissue between their faces as the sky grew black and stormy. A mighty screech could be heard as the great dragon soared through the thunderclouds and launched its attack at the pair.

The castle shook from the force of its Megaflare.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Typhoon lost his balance.

"**Had enough?"**

Typhoon got up, panting. "Not nearly!!" He was shocked; he had been through three ethers already, and this guy made no attempt to block or dodge _any_ of his spells! It was almost like—

"No… It can't be?"

"**Are we talking about the fact that I can absorb the power of any spell while I am in this form?"**

'_Dammit…'_ Typhoon though furiously. He'd been tricked! Why shouldn't the magic form be immune to all spells. He unclipped the Winners Proof, attaching the offensive based Omega weapon.

"**That's a new one." **Sam noted.** "That one's not Sora's is it?"**

"This ones mine!" Typhoon snarled. Hearing himself, he took a deep breath, calming himself down. "This one from my world!"

"**From the other side, am I correct?"**

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Typhoon said.

"**No need to hide your true identity. I know all about your rise to power, and how you came here."**

"Really?" Typhoon mocked. "Humour me. Tell me what you think you know!"

"**You come from the realm of darkness." **Sam answered, not moving. **"You rose to power because you stole what belonged to Light."**

Typhoon flinched. "How do you know this?"

"**Because I've been there."** Sam said. **"Now, I thought we were in the middle of a duel?"**

"Well, looks like I'll just have to kill you now." Typhoon retorted, disappearing.

Sam grabbed his face as he attacked from the side. **"**_**Arcane Release:**_**"**__Sam chanted as mystic words rose from the ground at his feet, the golden letters twisting around him **"**_**Thousand Bolts.**_**"**

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"TEAR!" Riku cried as he leapt back from his opponent, holding the Way to Dawn with two hands. He pulled them apart, splitting them into two blades; and angel wing, and a demon wing.

"I'd wager…" Ludor said, juggling cards from one hand to the other, "That one of those is the infamous Souleater, isn't it?"

"True." Riku answered. "The other is Life Giver."

"That's a silly name."

"Better than yours!" Riku shouted, charging at the heartless. Swinging with the Life Giver, he stabbed with the Soul Eater. Ludor dodged the blows, launching cards that Riku cut through, countering Ludor's counter.

"TAG!" Came a voice from the other side of the card wall, and Ludor surrounded itself with spinning cards. When they opened, Myde stood there, facing Riku. "Let's see you deal with this!" It said, summoning a bubble of water around itself. "DANCE WATER DANCE!"

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"So, are you the opponent that was giving my ally so much trouble?" Ludor asked, looking at Callum. "You seem different somehow…"

Callum indeed looked different. His hair, normally brown, heavy and wavy, was now black and flapped about wildly. A blue scar rose from the right side of his jaw, rising up his cheek. He gripped a long knife, perhaps a foot long, with a much longer chain flapping behind him. Water seemed to be repelled by him, standing on dry ground, with two inches of water being pushed away from his feet. Sand flew around the room, not like a sand storm, but more like a windy beach.

"So," Ludor pressed on. "Any chance you'd explain why?"

"**I controlled the water more than he did." **Callum replied, lifting his head to reveal his golden eyes. **"He didn't like it."**

"Really?" Ludor said. Myde wouldn't have lasted long in that situation. "Very well, I'll play against you then." Ludor launched a stream of dice at its opponent.

Water rose from the ground, catching the dice as they exploded. Callum swung his knife in a casual slash, and Ludor was crushed against the wall by heavy sand blast. "GARGH!" It cried, as his left arm was crushed.

"**Shame. You can't seem to face the power of the Templar."**

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"**Shame. You can't seem to face the power of the Magister."**

Typhoon forced himself onto his knees and forearms. "Wh-what the hell was that!?"

"**I told you. Thunder, cast one thousand times in under a second."** Typhoon stared in amazement as the figure continued **"Everyone has defences. Some can block any blow, some can dodge the fastest attack, some overpower their foe before they can fight back. Some,"** Sam said, **"Believe that they have impenetrable defences, that they cannot be touched."** Sam's hair turned back to its normal short brown, white returning to his eyes. "Those are the most fun. No matter what your defence is, I can break it. Someone of your level, for example," He said, walking towards Typhoon, "Could shrug off a basic spell with little damage, so you wouldn't even bother having any low level magic defences." He crouched to his fallen opponent, smiling. "So I just gave you more of those pathetic basic spells than you can handle." Sam grabbed Typhoons head. "Yet there are still so many different ways I could break you, right now."

Typhoon broke the Elixir in his pocket, allowing its healing juices flow into his pores. It was a special mix he had made that doesn't need to be drunk, and he was so thankful he had it, as he swung for his foe with his Keyblade, hitting him in the stomach, knocking him back.

"Hey, not bad!" Sam stood up as Typhoon did the same. "Shame Sora doesn't have that level of unashamed deceitfulness."

"So you're on his side then?"

"I'm Twilight." Sam said, "We're true neutral." He flashed a grin. "Mine is the side that's winning."

"So you're a spineless coward?"

"Nope." Sam laughed. "Just a manipulative sod." He raised his arm and shouted. "_ARCANE RELEASE:_"

"_Reflegun!_ I thought you had more than that? _Barriagun!_"

Sam grinned. "_Blood Blade._" He cast, launching a flurry of red cuts towards the target. Both barriers Typhoon set up collapsed into tiny shards, and he himself received so many tiny wounds that, when the spell stopped, he was completely out of his fighting stance, barely keeping his balance. He looked up to see Sam drive a fist into his face, followed by a knee into the back. "I told you," Sam explained, as Typhoon fell to the floor. "Any. Defence."

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

As the smoke cleared, Sora coughed. "Over… Hurk… Kill much? Chough!"

"Hey, it did the job, didn't it?" Jack wasn't coughing, but was back to his normal form, albeit with a ninja mask. "You really ought to get yourself one of these, Sora." He said, gesturing to the cloth covering his face. "You really are not good with smoke."

"Yeah… I Hack Guess…" Sora looked at the smoking crater. "They're really gone then, huh?"

"_NO! NOT IN THE SLIGHTEST!"_

"Aw, what!?" Jack shouted. "Now it's not even funny!"

What was even less funny, however, was what crawled out of the crater. No longer wearing any clothes, the thing no longer even resembled human. Scuttling on three bloody stumps for legs, positioned like a tripod, it had a gaping hole between its two chests. The jaws, however, had broken and fused together as one jawbone, though it had two sets off upper teeth. The central eye had not changed, but Larxenes eye had become larger, and bluer, while Marluxia's eye was smaller, and cat like.

Bones jutted out from Marluxia's arm at odd intervals, making a spiked club with a skeletal claw on the end. Blood and pus seeped from the wounds where the bones were visible. Larxenes arm, however, was leathery, almost scaled with all of the half-healed scabs. It was bald, veins pulsating on its cranium. With only one complete tongue, it now only had one, monstrous voice capable of speech.

Marluxia could only scream,

"AARRGGGHHHH!!"

"_YOU WILL DIE FOR THIS!"_ Larxene screeched, charging for the exhausted Sora and Jack.

It stopped dead.

"ARUGH!?"

"_WHAT NOW!?"_

Kairi appeared behind the frozen monster, Keyblade in hand. Not that it was visible, however, beneath the intense golden glow covering her hand like a blade. With two words, she swung the holy sword.

"_Heavens Truth."_

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The tunnels shook beneath the castle.

"What the hell!?" Myde shouted, losing its rhythm as Riku sliced through the last of its water clones. As its protective bubble collapsed, it moved to defend itself as Riku stabbed its face, killing it.

"T-There…" Riku said as Myde collapsed into black mist, panting for breath. "Stay dead..."

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Typhoon coughed up blood as the castle shook. "The hell!?" Sam said, rushing for the window.

Typhoon grunted and rose to his feet, gripping the Keyblade. He raised it into the air, preparing to swing.

"I wouldn't." Sam warned. "You can't win."

"_Meido!_" Typhoon roared, slicing a hole into the air. Before his opponent could pursue him, however, he dove into it, closing the hole behind him.

"Smart man." Sam noted, walking over to check on Leon and Aerith.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

As Sora's vision returned, He saw the bloody carcass of the top half of Marluxia and Larxene, floating in the air. The middle sides of the two ribcages fell away, leaving two hears, four lungs dangling, pulsating in rhythm, not in time with the other pair. It turned to Kairi, screaming in rage. _"YOU DARE!? HOW DARE YOU EVEN THINK THAT COULD KILL US!?"_

"Don't you know?" Kairi asked, standing in the air. "The Truth of Heaven is sharper than a two edged sword."

"_WHAT IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN!?"_

"It cuts twice." Kairi stated, as the second blow cleaved through the floating remains of what was, once, the two proudest warriors in the great Organisation XIII.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"You're partner's dead." Callum told Ludor, reverting back to his original form, sheathing his sword. "Your master has fled. Your mission has failed." Callum stated, clapping his hands together. "You have three seconds to leave before I return you to the darkness."

Ludor, clutching its left shoulder, grinned as a new arm spurt from the wound. "I'd rather play a little game." Callum found himself surrounded by huge, man sized cards, spinning around him. "Looks like I have all the aces!"

Sighing, Callum brought his hands into his pockets. "_Shadowflare._"

Ludor screamed as a dark mist coursed through the tunnels. Twisting the knife as the heartless died, he added. "Looks like I'm not playing cards." As the barrier fell and the scream died, he added. "Idiot."

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Kairi descended to the ground, gracefully amongst the rain of blood that fell. The electricity and thorns trapping Yuffie died and withered, letting her drop to the ground. Sora said the obvious thing.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT KAIRI!?"

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Yep, fights over. Next chapter next week most likely.

To explain. First, Omega weapon is an actual Keyblade from the DS game, I forget its name.

Lifegiver is not an existing Keyblade, but I needed it as a fight device.

Interesting bit of information Fumouchitai is Japanese for 'Wasteland'. Gunjin Means 'Soldier', so all together that's Soldier of the…

Yes, I would sink that low for an obscure joke. Deal with it.

Cookie for whoever finds the Terry Pratchett head nod. And I am damned proud of the Marluxia/Larxene boss fight. Come to think of it, I am damned proud of this chapter full stop. Enjoy!


	16. Chapter 16

Yay, New chapter. Thanks for your reviews, and I'm going to announce that due to some of the negative criticism I've received from the project partners, I'm going to be getting an editor.

Now, you may have guessed this already, but the four people behind the story were written in as the four warriors of Twilight. I'm Sam, and my new editor is Jack. Callum you've met, and the fourth member is a secret for now, so hush hush. The new editor is Jack.

Now, because of this, there will be an increase in the chapter quality, but chapters will come at a slightly slower pace. Hopefully the trade off will be worth it, because here's the next chapter.

Just to clarify, Meido is pronounced May-dou. I got the idea for the move from Inuyasha.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Shortly after the battles, everyone gathered in the Chapel. After exchanging their experiences, there was an awkward silence.

"So… what now?" Sora was the first to speak.

"We might as well clear the air between us." Callum spoke. "The Warriors of Twilight intend to aid Sora. Sam and I have been doing reconnaissance between this world and the world of dark, where Typhoon comes from."

"Impossible." Riku said. "I've been to the world of darkness. There's nothing there but Heartless and darkness."

"That's Styx." Sam corrected. "Think of it like this. At the end of this world is a brick wall. If you climb over it, you get to Gummi space." Sam made hand motions as he explained this. "If you get to the end of Gummi space, you get to another brick wall. Climb over that, you get to Styx. Get to the end of Styx, and you reach the Hollow. From the Hollow, you repeat the process backwards in another direction, and you get to the world of dark."

"Brick wall?" Sora asked, "There isn't a brick wall at the end of-"

"An imaginary one. Just using it to help explain." Sam sighed. "Typhoon has a skill which allows him to make shortcuts through these brick walls, a skill he calls Meido."

"Which is how he travelled that incredible distance…" Leon said, nodding.

Sam nodded, pulling out a notebook. "I'm also guessing that he also has a skill that allows him to put minds and memories into Heartless, giving them form, judging from the behaviour of the Organisation. As for Marluxia and Larxene…" Sora, Yuffie and Kairi flinched, "I'm guessing that he purposefully retarded their return as punishment, in order to sway the others to his side, since those two betrayed the Organisation in the past."

"How do you know that?"

"Jack was spying on you since you returned, and he also read your journal."

Sora whipped around at Jack, who looked mortified. "No I didn't!"

"Fine…" Sam sighed. "Jack told me it existed, so I took it out from the Library."

"Why would Sora's Diary be in the Library?"

"We have a very big Library in our home world." Callum said knowingly.

"Technically, it wasn't even a journal," Sam said, "Since it was filed under Scientific Reports – Heartless – Sora."

"Oh, that one." Sora calmed down. He'd kept track of all of the memories he'd regained as Roxas, just to help make sense of them. He also ended up writing notes on the Heartless and the Nobodies, and also things he'd learnt from the Ansem Reports. "But that's just a bunch of notes." Sora said. "Not much of a scientific report."

"Not yet. Apparently someone takes those notes and collaborates the Sora Report at some point." Sam replied, pulling a light blue hardback book from his Jacket, 'The Sora Report' emblazoned on the spine in ornate silver letters. He handed it to Sora.

"It's a very big Library." Callum repeated.

"It is." Jack added, nodding.

"Woah…" Sora said, reading the book. "This is insane…"

Riku looked over Sora's shoulder. _|---Contents_---| It said. _'What's so impressive about a contents page?'_

Then Riku looked down at the various chapter headings, and was impressed. Heartless, Nobodies, Keyblades, Worlds, Gummi's, Summon crystals, Synthesis, the organisation, Magic, Specials, Unbirths, Warriors, Crystals, Mana Sinks, It even had a chapter explaining Kingdom Hearts. "Turn to that one!" Riku hissed, as Sam pulled the book away.

"Hey, what!?" Sora and Riku protested.

"I'm not the one writing this." Sam said. "You are. You need to find out for yourself."

"Thought you said Time Paradoxes were a load of crap?" Jack queried, tilting his head.

"Shut up." Sam said. "Look, Callum, just tell them what you know about Typhoon."

"Right then." Callum stood up and clapped his hands. "Typhoon is the president of a world called Paradise City."

"Sounds nice." Riku said.

"It is actually." Callum said. "The grass is green and the girls are pretty."

"TAKE! ME! HOME!" Jack shouted, arms in the air. "YEAH!" He added, earning himself a smack on the head.

"Anyway. He rose to power after a huge power vacuum left after the fall of a false god. He rebuilt the nation, and gained the Keyblade at some point along the way. He has built himself a military, and is focusing more on conquering this side of Styx first, settling only for a couple of worlds over there. For now.

"Overall," Callum continued, "He's a good politician, decent tactician, skilled fighter, knows how to lead his mean, command their loyalty, and treats them right. He can be described as harsh but fair, some kind of benevolent dictator."

"What's that mean?" Yuffie asked.

"It means that he doesn't actually dictate, doesn't throw you into prison for badmouthing him, and generally stays in power simply be making sure that the whole place would go to hell if he was kicked out of office."

"Kinda like Vetinari?" Jack mentioned the name of a previous ruler of their home world, from hundreds of years ago.

"Note quite as good." Callum admitted. No-one could out Vetinari Vetinari. "But he does have the same election system. One Man, One Vote."

"I'm the man, I have the vote?" Asked Prime Minister Leon. Callum nodded.

"What about their soldiers?" Kairi asked, concerned for Sora.

"They're well trained, loyal, technologically advanced, but not that powerful individually." Callum told her. "Their biggest threat are Nullifiers, which are basically handcuffs that render people like us powerless."

"Meaning?"

"No magic, not superhuman speed, strength or endurance, and you can't jump as high." Sam explained. "Thankfully, they still need to get them on you, so they're not that dangerous."

Callum shook his head. "A recent twelve million munny increase in the R&D department could soon change that."

"Ah."

Sora stood up. "So, we basically have to stop him before he takes us over, right?"

"Not gonna be easy." Leon said. "You can't fight an army with individuals."

"That's right." Aerith said. "You're going to actually have to gather an army."

"How long do we have?" Riku asked.

"I don't know." Callum said. "But from what I can gather, Typhoon's Magic R&D team are a couple of months away from making a Meido big enough to launch a Gummi fleet."

"A FLEET!?" Donald Screeched.

"Gawrsh, that's not good." Added Goofy.

"Alright, here's the plan." Sora said. "Donald, Take Goofy and tell this to the King. I'll take Riku and Kairi across the worlds to gather an army."

"How are you gonna do that without a Gummi ship, Sora?" Donald quacked.

"One of you can take mine." Sam said. "I don't need it anymore."

"Huh?" Sora asked, while Callum and Jack looked quizzically. "Why not?"

Sam smiled. "I saw Typhoon do the Meido, and I'm a Blue Mage."

"Plumage?" Goofy asked, while Sora, Aerith and Donald gasped. Kairi, Yuffie and Riku twisted their eyebrows, and Jack, Leon and Callum grinned.

"It means he can copy other peoples abilities by seeing them." Leon explained. "Makes sense. Warriors historically were granted several lifetimes training worth of power, not always for the same Class." Class was a code word for the category of a person's power. Anyone who trained correctly could gain one, the determined could get two, the skilled three, and the Warriors of Twilight had…

"Six." Jack said. "We have six classes each."

"Including those you were born with and trained under?" Leon asked, getting three nods. "Not bad. I've only got SeeD and Gunmage."

"I'm a proud Shinobi!" Yuffie said. "And a Thief… heheh."

"I'm a Holy Mage." Aerith said. "And I'm also a Healer."

"We could just spend our day discussion what we can all do." Sam interrupted. "Or we can do what we decided to do?"

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Few minutes later, Sora, Riku and Kairi were in the Highwind. Sam had handed Sora Oathkeeper and Oblivion, which he managed to take from Typhoon. He passed them to Riku and Kairi, however, in order to balance the power of their Keyblades.

"Where to next?" Kairi asked.

"Whichever world is next." Sora said. "By the looks of it…" He looked at the approaching world as a smile grew on his face. "It's the Pridelands!"

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"I hate fur." Riku scratched at his white neck with his hind leg.

Kairi laughed. "Riku, you're more dog than wolf!"

"Hey, it's a wolf, alright?" Riku certainly did look more canine than the others. Sora looked like a young lion, no longer a cub, but not yet with the strength or size of a fully matured lion. Kairi looked like a deep red Jaguar. They took some time getting used to their new forms, even Sora, who had been a lion before, was unused to having this much raw power behind four legs.

"Come on!" He shouted. "I'll go introduce you to Simba!"

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Hey your highness!"

Simba turned around at the unfamiliar voice. He recognised the owner though. "Sora!" He said happily. "You've grown!"

Sora laughed. "So's the grass. I like what you've done with the place!"

Simba smiled. "It's a start, but the animals are returning to the pridelands, and the Heartless have been banished to the badlands, with some… traitors…"

"Traitors?" Riku asked.

"There were some Lionesses who… supported Scars rule, and opposed my decisions as King." Simba sighed. "I had no choice, there would have been a civil war otherwise…" Simba turned to Riku and Kairi. "Who're your friends?" He asked, "No Donald or Goofy?"

"They're doing a mission elsewhere." Sora explained. "There are my friends!" Sora announced proudly. "Riku, and Kairi."

"Hi." Kairi replied happily.

"Sorry about our last meeting…" Riku apologised.

"It's good to have you as an ally now." Simba answered. Last time he met Riku was in the heat of battle, an experience he did not want to repeat.

"Daddy…" A young lioness cub bounded up to Simba. "I wanna go play…"

"What did your mother say?"

"She said it was alright, but I had to tell you first."

With some hesitation, Simba sighed. "Alright, but stay where you can see Pride Rock." As she bounded away, he shouted "And stay away from the badlands! Don't talk to any strangers!"

"She'll be alright." Nala told Simba. "Good to see you again, Sora."

Sora, however, was recovering from shock. "Daddy? You're a dad!?"

"It has been a long time since we last met…" Simba agreed. "That was Kiara. She's even more trouble than I was when I was her age."

"No, it's just that this time, you're the worrying parent." Nala corrected. "Relax, she'll be fine. We always were."

"_We_ were always lucky, or were saved by my father." Simba replied. "I'm worried about her."

"You did promise to let her play out on her own." Nala reminded him. "And no sending Timon or Pumba either."

"I know…" Simba bowed his head, defeated. "I just… I just worry…"

"I'll go keep an eye on her." Sora offered.

"It's alright." Simba replied. "I stopped looking for loopholes a long time ago—" Simba was interrupted by a hostile growl. "That came from where Kiara is!" Simba leapt off Pride rock, rushing after his daughter.

"Hey, wait up!" Sora shouted, leaping off the huge precipice.

"Sora!" Kairi shouted, leaning over the edge to see Sora land perfectly and break into a run. She was amazed at just what these animal bodies could do.

"Come on!" Riku said, jumping after him. Kairi and Nala soon followed.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"WHAT! Have I told you about the enemy!?"

"That they must be destroyed…" Kovu whimpered. "but we were just playing…"

Kiara flinched as the lioness Zira snarled. "YOU were chosen as Scar's heir, but you CHOOSE to PLAY with HIS SPAWN!?"

"I know I know…" Kovu whimpered. "I'm sorry…"

"Hey, we weren't doing anything wrong!" Kiara defended her friend. "We were just—"

SNARL! She was batted away with a swipe from Zira. "You DESERVE Death after what your father put us THROUGH!"

WHAM! She was tackled by a streak of red. A Lean, crimson furred Lion with feathers in his hair stood between the two cubs and the Lioness. He snarled, whipping a flaming tail.

"Nanaki!" Simba shouted, rushing to his side. "Thankyou." He said, moving to defend his daughter. "Are you alright?" He asked her.

"I'm fine…" She started, "But…"

"You are not fine!" Simba snapped, looking at her wound, "Look at you, you could have been killed!"

"That's right Simba…" Zira purred menacingly. "Or she could have STARVED to death like the Rest of us you ABANDONED!"

"You chose to side with Scar." Simba reasoned as Sora approached with the others. "You chose to be punished. Were I him, you would have been killed. I was merciful and let you live," Simba snarled, "Provided you never return!"

"Your child broke to our side first!" Zira snapped. "But if you must take your pound of flesh, take it from my cub…" She said, gesturing towards Kovu. "He was the one who broke your precious treaty. I only came to retrieve him."

"Your Cub!?" Nanaki snapped. "You stole him from me!"

"Only because you refused to fulfil your right as his father." Zira replied pretentiously. "You fled when Scar took over."

"I Refused to live under his rule. I went to find the true king, as YOU should have!"

Nanaki had only returned a few months ago to find his home restored and mate and son banished. Though it hurt him deeply, he remained Loyal to Simba, as his mate refused."

"You don't deserve to be called his father. Scar, however…" Zira smiled scornfully. "Fulfilled that role better than you ever could have…"

Nanaki snarled, shielding Kovu with his body. A scar shaped like XIII could be seen, carved on his front left leg. "My king…" He pleaded to Simba. "Please, allow me to take back my son, under your care. My… mate seems to care little for him."

"Alright." Simba said, as Nanaki took his son up in his mouth, walking away.

"WHERE ARE YOU GOING WITH LORD SCAR'S CUB!?"

"He's not Scar's." Nanaki responded. "Nor is he yours any longer." He walked away with his son.

"Nala. Take Kiara back to Pride rock." Simba asked his mate. "I will take care of this."

Snarling, Zira prepared to pounce, only to dive across the murky river and flee deep into the elephant's graveyard.

Once she was out of sight, Simba sighed. "Come on…" He said to everyone. "Let's go home…"

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Little present for everyone who've watched Lion King 2 and played Final Fantasy VII. For everyone else, or for those who didn't get it, Nanaki isn't an original character. He's Red XIII. And apparently He's Kovu's father.

Now, in LK2, Zira was Scar's mate, who led the lions who were kicked out by Simba for siding with Scar in the epic fight sequence at the end of Lion King 2. She has two sons; a dark red cub called Kovu, and another, older cub who's an idiot. I forget his name, but over the course of the film Nala and Kovu fall in love. Remember how Lion King is basically Hamlet with Lions? Well Lion King 2 is basically Romeo and Juliet with Lions. I won't spoil the ending, but remember that it's disneyfied like Lion King one was.

And yes, Job classes. Bam. Don't worry, I'll try to limit their influence. You'll barely know that they were here, I just need them to explain a few training schools later in the story.

And yes, Lion King is earlier in the story than in KHII. The worlds have moved, that's my excuse.


	17. Chapter 17

Hey. I started this on Tuesday, after I'd finished the previous chapter and the Persona 27. Slow editor is slow.

But hey, this should mean that you get double update. Yay. Although at this rate I may end up sacking him.

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"So, what was going on?" Sora asked the Lion King.

Simba sighed. "Shortly after we defeated Scar, there was a schism between the lionesses." Simba scowled. "Many saw the Heartless ghosts of Scar as a sign that he was the rightful king, and that I had no right to the throne. To prevent civil war, and to protect Kiara…"

"You banished them." Riku finished Simba's sentence for him.

"It wasn't an easy decision to make." Simba said, "But it had to be done. Sora." He added, turning around. "What is happening?"

"Huh?" Sora asked, confused.

"I know you. All you wanted was to find your friends and return home with them, and to protect your new friends along the way. Why would you leave your happy life with your old friends," Simba asked, "For any reason other than to protect your new friends?"

Sora felt like a deer caught in the headlights. Sighing, he simply told the truth. "We're at risk of a world war."

Simba frowned. "A war between worlds?" Simba knew about the World Order, but knew that discussing it with Sora would not be breaking it.

"Sort of…" Sora replied. "More like our worlds against his worlds."

"I see." Simba frowned. "Did you come to warn us?"

"Actually…" Sora felt awkward. "We actually came to ask for your help…"

Simba was surprised. "Did you think I'd say no?"

Sora's turn. "You'll help us?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Simba laughed. "But you'll be on your way again soon, won't you?"

Sora looked down. "Yeah…" he said. "We still have so many worlds to visit…"

Simba nodded. "Go see Rafiki before you go. Come back when you need our help!" Simba told Sora, before pounding away to Pride rock.

"Rafiki?" Riku asked.

"Sort of like a sage…" Sora asked. "But where is he..?"

"Well, whatever it is you seek, it'll be in the last place you look!"

Sora looked up into the tree they stood under. "Hey! Rafiki, is that you?"

"Could be, could be not!" The baboon dropped down from the canopy, hanging from a vine with his left arm and foot. "But the question is," He said, poking Sora in the nose, "Who are you?"

Sora batted Rafiki's finger away with his paw. "It's me Rafiki! Sora!"

"Did I ask for you name!?" Rafiki sang, jumping behind the group, "Or did I ask, _Who_ are _you_?"

"Erm… Sora?" The key bearing lion repeated.

"You only answer the question in your head," Rafiki rapped his stick on said skull, "Not in your ears!" He added, as Sora rubbed his head. "You think you know who you are!" He shouted simply, "But that is not the same as _knowing_ who you _Are_!" The baboon laughed. "Get it!?"

"Erm… no?" Sora answered, while Kairi giggled.

"He's funny…" She said quietly to Riku, who nodded with a smile.

"Alright then." Sora asked. "Who am I?"

"That is good question!" Rafiki said, smiling. He hit Sora with the stick again.

"Ow!"

"You follow Rafiki!" said the baboon, walking away. "He know the way."

"The way to where?" Sora asked, walking after him.

"To where _You_ are!"

"But… aren't I here?"

"You see! Follow old Rafiki, young boy!"

"Erm…" Riku called after them "Should we come too?"

"Do you need Rafiki's help?" The monkey shouted, giggling. Riku and Kairi quickly shook their heads. "Then you don't need to come!" He started dancing as he lead Sora into the trees. "_Asante Sana, squash banana!_"

"I'll see you guys back at the Gummi ship!" Sora shouted over his shoulder, following the singing hermit.

"Okay!" Kairi shouted, smiling.

"_Wiwi nugu mi Mi apana…_"

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"_Asante Sana, squash banana! Wiwi nugu mi Mi apana!_" Rafiki sang through the fourteenth verse of his song.

"Will you cut that out!?" Sora barked.

"Can't." Rafiki declared. "It'll just grow right back!" He giggled, and sung the fifteenth verse. It was the same as the previous fourteen verses, and is the same as the next eleventy twelve verses.

"How is this supposed to tell me who I am?" Sora asked the monkey, getting angry. "Where is this going!?" Sora snarled.

"Here!" Rafiki bonked Sora on the head again with the stick.

"OW!" Sora shouted. "KNOCK IT OFF!"

"Can't. Skin in the way! Hohoo!"

"Grr…" Sora snarled, when Rafiki grabbed the lions head and twisted it to face just another puddle of water that Sora had passed.

He was shocked at just how angry it was. As his face softened, that snarling face still haunted the back of is eyes.

"Is that who you are?" Rafiki asked, grabbing a mango from a nearby tree.

"No… I… is it?"

"Could be." Rafiki swung into a vine hammock. "But is that who you want to be?"

Sora remembered the words of Roxas. "…No… No I don't want that…"

"But you wish to destroy your enemies?"

Sora twisted around. "I want to protect my friends!"

Rafiki smiled. "But you do want to destroy your enemies? Why?"

"So I can protect my friends!" Sora repeated.

"But which do you want?" Rafiki asked. "Which is the means for which end?"

"I… I…" Rafiki had hit the nail on the head. Sora had been focusing more and more on fighting his enemies than keeping his friends safe. Looking back, he realised that for the entire fight with Marluxia and Larxene yesterday, he had no idea where Kairi was or what she was doing until the very end. He didn't even ask her once how she was holding up about it afterwards.

Sora lowered his head in shame. "The truth about yourself hurts, doesn't it?" Rafiki asked. Sora nodded, and Rafiki continued "But you can either run from yourself, or face it."

Sora nodded. "I'm not who I used to be… OW!" He shouted, as he earned himself another smack on the head

"Are you?" Rafiki pointed, hanging from a tree branch. "Are you no more a little boy running from the darkness?"

"Huh? I— I… I…" Sora couldn't honestly say that he wasn't. Every word the monkey said cut Sora right down to his heart, then deeper into another heart, deeper and deeper each time.

"What's the matter? Warthog got your tongue?" Rafiki laughed. "Aren't you still chasing that adventure with your little friends? Running from where you _should_ be?"

"Where I should be?" Sora asked. This baboon knew more about Sora than he did himself, and Sora was eager to learn.

"Where do you think!?" Rafiki shouted. "A place in your heart called… Upendi."

"Upendi?" Sora asked. "This is a state of being type place isn't it? OW!"

"You are asking the wrong questions, boy!" Rafiki jeered. "How can you know how to get somewhere if you do not know where you are?"

"By getting up and walking." Sora asked, getting the feel for this. "And by asking people for directions along the- OW!"

"Hoho! You think they know where _you_ should be? They barely know where _they_ should be!"

"That's true…" Sora agreed. "Then, what should I do?"

"Who cares?" Rafiki hooted. "So long as it is what _you_ want to do."

"The real me."

"The you in _here_!" Rafiki said, poking Sora in the chest.

"In my heart?" Sora asked. "OW!" Sora hadn't been expecting the stick at such close range.

"What does the heart know?" Rafiki hooted, jumping back. "The heart only knows light and dark, and how to beat!" Rafiki jumped into the tree. "Why listen to the heart if the heart does not know what it wants?" Rafiki cried, leaping into the distance.

Sora stood there before saying aloud. "What my heart… wants?"

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Riku flew the Gummi ship to the next world. Sora and Kairi both slept in their seats, snoring peacefully. "Lucky beggars." Riku said, taking another bite out of his energy bar.

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"Hey Sora, long time no see."

Sora faced Roxas. "I came here to ask you what's going on with me."

"Sorry?" Roxas was confused.

"I've been thinking. About how I've been changing, about how I've not been changing." Sora looked down at the foundations that were being laid in his soul. "What's going on?"

"You're growing up." Roxas told him. "But are you maturing?"

"Fair point." Sora said, sitting on the ledge. "Hey… what does my Heart want?"

"You Heart?" Roxas looked surprised at the question. "How should I know? This is Psyche." He explained. "The world inside your _mind_!" Roxas sat down next to Sora. "I may know what you ignore, or try to forget, but what do I care what some pump in your chest wants? Now…" Roxas smiled perversely. "I know what some organs want… if you know what I mean."

"Grow up." Sora said, sliding to his feet. "I'm outta here." He added, walking away.

Roxas looked behind him at Sora's shrinking back, smiled, then said to himself "They want Upendi."

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"Wake up you lazy bum!"

Sora woke when he got a cushion thrown into his face. "We're here." Riku announced.

Sora rubbed his eyes, yawning. "Wh-Where?"

Riku smiled, rubbing his hands with glee. "Port Royale." He said. "Here be pirates."

Sora's eye focused, and he noticed Riku's eye patch. Grinning, he jumped to his feet. "Aye aye, cap'n!"

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"'Tis a fine vessel," Jack Sparrow noted, admiring the Gummi ship. "Not quite to my liking, but who am I to judge?"

Sora grinned as he stepped out of the ship. "Captain Jack Sparrow!" He said, running for him.

Smiling, Captain Jack opened his grubby arms wide, a bottle of rum in his right. "As it were, old mate!"

Sora rushed into his hug. Pulling himself back quickly, he patted his pockets.

"Don't you trust me lad?"

"Oh, I trust you." Sora replied, taking a quick inventory. "I also trust that you'll give back me 'Follow the Wind'?"

Sighing, Jack returned the Keychain. "You don't trust me then."

"I trust you to be untrustworthy." Sora answered, smiling. "Come on, I want you to meet my friends. This is Riku," He said, gesturing to the gray haired boy, "And Kairi."

"Fine wenches, I'm sure."

…

"Riku's a guy."

Jack looked back at Riku with puzzlement on his face. He then turned to Sora, then to Riku, then to Sora again, before saying "You sure?"

"Oh, I'm sure." Riku answered in a deep voice that made Jack jump.

"Oh. You should have said." Jack Sparrow turned to Sora. "Not the first time I've made that mistake lad." He said, face twitching. "And I'm sure it won't be the last. Come on!" He announced, staggering towards the Black Pearl. "We've got work to do."

"Aye aye, Captain!" Sora saluted, before flashing Kairi and Riku a grin. "Come on!" He shouted, running after the intoxicated pirate.

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Alright, these are the last two chapters I've written. If you want me to continue the story, vote on my profile.


	18. Chapter 18

Alright, back in business!

Sorry for the huge gap in chapters, but there were… issues.

And because of those issues, I'm going to skip Port Royale.

It's certainly not because I've got character block for Captain Jack Sparrow. Honest. ¬¬

However, I will make it up to you with someone even more awesome that Captain Jack Sparrow. Yes, such a character exists in Kingdom Hearts. Or at least, as of this chapter there is.

And now, welcome, to Gaia.

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Things went smoothly in Port Royale, barring the run in with Davy-Jones and the encounter with the Kraken. However, Sora was able to gain the support of the Pirate Fleets in the potential upcoming battle.

However, now Sora was heading for a world he had never been to. "Gaia?" He asked.

"Wonder what it's like…" Kairi asked.

Then a Gummi ship flew past them towards the world.

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"Holy…" Riku said once they arrived. "A… A city of Gummi's…"

Sora nodded. This was way beyond anything he had every imagined.

"Excuse me!"

Sora turned to see a station warden run towards him. "You can't park your Gummi there! Move it!"

"Uh… okay?" This was new.

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Once Sora had parked the Gummi Ship, forking out over a thousand Munny for the parking, he sighed and set out looking for his friends

"Hey, those are interesting eyes."

Sora turned his head to see who was speaking. It was a pale young man with silver hair in a pony tail. His eyes were purple like his shirt, which he wore under a black jacket and brown armour. "Determined with a hint of guilt. You've seen a fair few battles, haven't you?"

Sora turned around fully to face the man. Judging from the killing intent, Sora could tell where this was going and summoned the Keyblade.

"Now we're talking!" The young man shouted, drawing two katana from behind him. "Let's do this."

Sora levelled the weapon gap by splitting his Keyblade before charging at his opponent. "Before we begin," He said, "My name is Luneth."

"Sora!" Sora replied, swinging the Oblivion into Luneth's blocking sword, and blocked his counter with the Oathkeeper. Sora spun round, bringing himself to Luneth's side before attacking.

Luneth jumped high into the air before launching a wave of darkness towards Sora. He jumped above it though, spinning into the Master Forme as he did. "THUNDARAGUN!!" He cast, summoning a huge thunderstorm to trap Luneth.

The silver haired man smiled, throwing his two katana at Sora with great speed. Sora twisted himself in the air to dodge the two blades, then saw a huge fireball rushing towards him. "WHOA!" He shouted, bringing the two Keyblades in a cross to defend himself. "REFLEGA!!"

The fireball was deflected, but Luneth rushed through it, swinging a glowing fist round into Sora's face. Sora grunted, bringing Oblivion down on the hand to knock it down.

Luneth used the momentum from Sora's block to twist himself and deliver an axe kick to Sora's shoulder. "GARGH!" Sora shouted, falling towards the ground. Luneth fell with him, pushing his foot further down into the bone.

WHAM! Both landed together, Sora taking the brunt of the impact on his back. Forcing himself up, he rolled to a safer distance before casting "FIRAGA!" He launched himself at his enemy in a flurry of flames, Oblivion spinning around him as he gripped Oathkeeper.

"BAHAMUT!" Called another young man, and a dragon flew overhead and launched its Megaflare over both Sora and Luneth, bringing them both down in an instant.

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Sora woke up in what appeared to be a Gummi ship. "So you're awake."

Sora sat up to see a young woman with dark blonde hair. She wore a white tunic with a blue sleeveless jacket, and high brown leather boots. "Luneth did quite a number on you didn't he?"

"I could have kept going." Sora told her, rubbing his shoulder. "I'm Sora by the way."

"Refia." The blonde replied. "The one who summoned Bahamut on you was Arc." She explained. "He's in the next room, getting chewed out by Arc and Ingus." She shook her head. "I'd be there too if they weren't all useless with healing…"

Sora sat up out of the bed. "Am I guessing that you're warriors of light or something?"

She shook her head. "Nah, but you're right about us being warriors."

"We're the warriors of Dusk." Said the voice that summoned Bahamut.

Arc had thick brown hair and a quiet expression. He wore a white scarf tied like a tie over a green cloak. He carried a book in his gloved hand.

"How's it going in there?" Refia asked him.

"What do you think?" Arc asked her with a sly smile. "I give it two minutes before swords are drawn."

Refia sighed, shaking her head. "Why's Luneth always like that..?"

"Actually, Ingus seems to be the angry one this time." Arc turned to Sora. "You must've given him a good brawl," He said. "I haven't seen him this happy since we defeated the Cloud of Darkness."

Refia slapped Sora round the back of his head. "He's a Keybearer!" She told Arc, pulling Sora towards her. "What do you expect?"

"Oookay..?" Sora said, slipping out of her arm. "I… kinda need to find my friends now…"

"Two girls, one with red hair and the other with silver?" Arc asked.

"Silver hair's a guy." Sora told him, getting up from the bed.

"I know." Arc replied cheekily. "But he needs a haircut. Downstairs."

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The Gummi Ship turned out to be a house built from Gummi Blocks. Once Sora was reunited with his friends, they sat down with the warriors of Dusk. Ingus had blonde hair and a blonde beard, and wore black light armour under a red and white tunic, and was sitting as far away from Luneth as he could, neither of them talking to the other.

Sora immediately got to business, warning them of the upcoming war and began to ask for their alliance, knowing full well that with his luck, he had exactly three more minutes before something bad happened and he would have to fight it, preferably with allies than without them.

"Kekekekekeke… Run! Run!" Shouted a gleeful voice from outside. "Or you'll be well done!" Make that exactly minus three seconds. Sora and Luneth both rushed to the window to see a clown in red dancing around the street outside, burning everything he felt like burning; buildings, people, Gummi's, children, whatever he wanted to burn, he burnt.

While laughing his head off.

"Fire, Fire, Burnination for all!!" Sang the clown.

"He- He's dancing mad…" Sora gasped. "Who the hell is that loon!?"

"That's…" Arc couldn't believe it. "Kefka Palazzo?" He said. "But… why is he doing this!?"

"I always knew he was a few cakes short of a biscuit." Luneth growled. "He is DEAD!"

The other warriors nodded. "We can't let him get away with this… where's Riku?"

Sora knew exactly where Riku was, and jumped out the window to join his battle brother in, well, battle.

"RRARGH!" The two Keybearer's roared in unison, charging together with their Keyblades.

"Oh dear…" Kefka said as he set a screaming child ablaze. "You want to fight me? How dreadful!" He jumped out of the way of their attacks, hiding behind a child's smouldering corpse. "Oooh, they're warm to touch!" He cuddled the roasted body. "What treasures!"

Riku's hand was shaking. "You… You sick…"

"We'll get him from both sides." Sora quietly told him, glaring with more hate than he'd ever felt in his life. "You from the left, and me from the right, got it?"

"Oh, you don't enjoy the barbeque?" Kefka asked from behind the two, whispering into their ears. "That's such a shame."

Sora and Riku burst forward, getting as much distance between them and the madman as they could. "Kekeke…" Kefka laughed. "Let's fight then!" Taunted the clown. "Maybe you'll live to see the world burn!"

"KEFKA!" Ingus shouted as he, Refia, Arc, Luneth and Kairi ran into the street. "WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS!?"

"Kekeke…" Kefka slowly turned around to face them. "Why do people insist on creating things that will inevitably be destroyed?" He asked in response. "Why do people cling to life, knowing that they must someday die? ...Knowing that none of it will have meant anything once they do!?"

"Yep, he's lost it." Luneth decided as he twirled a katana in his hand. "Can we kill him already?" He gripped the weapon back handed, drawing another blade with his other hand. "Before another child burns?"

Refia drew a Warhammer from behind her, Arc a book from his pocket and a shortsword from beneath his cloak. Kairi summoned her Keyblade, and Ingus drew two large broadswords from his back and roared; "FOR GAIA!!"

"Hmph." Kefka folded his arms as people ran from the street as fast as they could. "I don't care about this pathetic little planet…"

An insane little smile crept across his painted lips.

"So I'll burn it."

_**FWOOSH!!**_

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When Sora opened his eyes, the world was burning. While the flames weren't nearly enough to hurt him or the others, screams could be heard all around from the dying civilians, who had no mana or spirit power or whatever to protect them from Kefka's senseless flames.

Kefka sniffed in the flames. "Kekeh…" He said happily. "Nothing beats the sweet music of hundreds of voices screaming in unison… kekekee…"

"You…" Sora grunted with rage "Heartless… Monster…"

"Heartless?" Kefka asked Sora, putting on a politely offended face. "Me?" The madcap laughed. "Are you really that slow?"

Sora's eyes widened as a singed Ingus rose to his feet. "This world…" He coughed, "Has no Heartless…"

"Huh!?" Riku turned his head around so fast he almost snapped his neck. "Is that even possible!?"

"We sealed the darkness." Arc explained, brimming with a righteous fury. "Banished it deep within our own hearts!"

"Wh-what!?" Kairi gasped.

"We're living seals" Refia added. "We four Warriors of Dusk are the only ones in this world capable of being manipulated by the darkness!"

"That's why he's not a Heartless." Luneth growled. "Kefka Palazzo is doing this with a sound heart and a sound body."

"Kekeke… Crazy am I?" Kefka chuckled. "Kekekekeh… I haven't thought this clearly in years!"

"So…" Sora couldn't grasp his head around this. "All those people you killed… All those precious lives…" Sora's sword hand shook in the silence. "ALL WASTED FOR YOUR LITTLE GAME!?"

"Kekeke… But what fun is destruction if no _'Precious'_ lives are lost?"

Sora had reached his limit. Dropping his Keyblades, he charged at the madman like a wild animal.

Kefka laughed, swatting Sora away effortlessly. "SORA!!" Kairi screamed, as Sora smashed through the building.

"No time for the dead, girl!" Kefka screeched in her ear. "KEKE-"

Kefka was knocked back as a wave of Gummi blocks struck him. "We need to surround him!" Ingus shouted, his hands gripping the floor. "FIGHT TOGETHER!!"

"Kairi." Riku said calmly as light twisted down his left arm, darkness down his right. "Go help Sora. Then, get to work on another 'Heavens Truth'."

Kairi was shocked, but nodded, running to the building Sora landed in.

"Aww…" Kefka clapped sarcastically. "Letting the little girl get away?" He started stamping his foot, like a spoiled child a having a tantrum. "THAT'S NO FAIR!!" Kefka screeched. "I WANNA KILL HER TOO!!"

"You'll have to kill us first!" Luneth taunted, sweat dripping down his spine.

It had nothing to do with the heat.

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"Sora!" Kairi called as she started shifting through the rubble. "Sora! Can you hear me!?" She was getting desperate now. "Please, don't die!" Tears ran down her face as she shifted block after block. "SORA!!"

"**Rrrrgh…"**

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"Kekeke!" Kefka laughed, dancing through his enemies' attacks. "You always were slow!" He sang happily as he ducked another blast of darkness from Luneth. "And always, always, ALWAYS..!" He put a palm on Luneth's head, too close for Luneth to do anything. "A little goody two-shoes."

Kefka sprang back as a bolt of darkness shot through where his head was. "Who did that!?" He asked, twisting his head to and fro. "Where is that _splendid_ rage coming from!?"

He stopped and pointed theatrically at a building. "Was it you!?" He accused. "Haha!" He shouted, launching a fireball as he fended off Ingus and Riku's attacks simultaneously with one hand. "GOT YOU!" The clown shouted maniacally. "KEKEKEKEKE-HUH!?!?"

As the smoke cleared, Sora's shape could be seen walking through the flames, Keyblade in hand. "Alright!" Riku shouted with a smile. "Let's go So-" He stopped when he noticed his friends eyes. "-ra..?"

Sora's eyes were round and yellow.

Cold yet inviting.

Cute, yet horrifying.

Apathetic, yet curious.

Not human, yet not animal.

Not mad, yet not sane.

"S-Sora?" Riku asked again as the Warriors if Dusk recoiled in fear. "W-what happened?"

Sora stepped out of the flames, smoke rising from his charred body.

No, that wasn't it.

Black Mist fleeing from his body; consumed by darkness.

"N-no…" Refia gasped. "I-it's impossible!"

"Holy…" Luneth lost the power of speech.

"He's a…" Ingus began, despair in his voice.

"Heartless." Arc said with horror as Kefka laughed with glee.

"Kekekekee! So, the great Keybearer has become a Heartless!?" Kefka did a little dance as he said this. "My, my! Well the worlds are doomed now aren't they!?" He asked happily, charging a fire spell. "Might as well start with this on- OMPH!" Kefka was cut off by Sora's Keyblade smashing into his face as it changed form.

The Two Across.

"_**Who has become WHAT!?" **_Sora shouted. As Kefka rose to his feet, Sora continued speaking. _**"Heartless has become ME!!!"**_

"Kekekekeh…" Kefka laughed, swaying. "KEKEKEKEKEKEKEH!!!"

Kefka continued to laugh as a dark light swirled around him. Gummi blocks, fire, ven the black mist surrounding Sora was sucked into the dark vortex. "Wh-what!?" Sora exclaimed, looking at his hands.

"GET THE HELL BACK!" Ingus roared as the dark whirlwind rose to become a twisting pillar of blackness.

"What's going on!?" Luneth shouted, struggling not to get sucked in.

"He's succumbed to the darkness…" Riku told everyone as he stepped back. "No, that's not right…"

"The darkness succumbed to him…" Sora gasped, not believing what he was seeing and feeling.

Kefka was powerful without the Heartless, but now…

The dark whirlwind dissipated, revealing a huge, barbaric grey monster. It was humanoid, though existing only from the waist up. It was enormous, over twenty feet tall from head to gut.

But there was more. Twisted metal pipes grew out of the monsters back, tearing through the purple tissue. The pipes contorted as they rose into the sky: at forty feet there was a giant, blue Kefka, sitting atop a tiger's head. A naked, grey Kefka was sat on the opposite side of the pipes to it, with more beings crucified against the machines worked into the pipes.

Above them, just below the scorched clouds, sat an even larger blue Kefka in a blue robe, resting against the pipes as they spewed yellow sulphur into the sky. A woman's head floated above him, her grim expression only amplified by its unnatural size.

Above that, above the clouds that were scorched yellow, came a voice.

"_**Kekekekeke… I am a god…" **_Kefka's voice boasted from above the clouds._** "All powerful… I've acquired the ultimate power! Observe...Such magnificent power! You're all nothing more than fleas compared to me now! Embrace your destruction... It is the fate of all things..."**_

"Well." Luneth announced. "We're boned."

"_**Life... Dreams... Hope... Where do they come from?"**_ Kefka asked._** "And where do they go...? Such meaningless things... I'll destroy them all!" **_

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Yep. A thrilling return.

Don't hold your breath waiting for the next chapter, but again, don't expect the wait to be so long either. While you wait, I recommend checking out my other stories, especially Time Paradox, which is my parody of Final Fantasy VII.

Just to let you know, this is probably my worst written story to date. So if you like this, you will love my other stuff.


	19. Chapter 19

AND BACK!

But not for long though.

So, to let me explain myself. I'd pretty much dropped this story since I wasn't getting any… drive to do it anymore. BUT! I've recently been lookng into Birth By Sleep, and though I still don't know what's going on in either BBS or 358/2 specifically, I have a general idea which has completely re-written the remainder of this story.

However, then my muse left as quickly as I came, so I'm gonna do the decent thing and post what I wrote while inspired, wrap it up so it makes a decent 'Start Of Darkness' story, and post this as the final chapter.

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**-}+{-**

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The twisted, demented tower of chaos crumbled under its own weight, and Kefka descended from the scorched yellow sky, six wings coming from his back as he wore nothing but a purple robe.

"_**Now…**_" He said, raising his arms to the sky. "_**Perish.**_"

A multitude of black meteors fell from the sky, obliterating the planet. Sora dodged the best he could, as did everyone else, but it wasn't long before he was struck down from behind, knocking him down instantly.

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Sora found himself in the familiar grassy fields of his soul to find Roxas chuckling at him. "Man, you really are pathetic, aren't you?" He asked.

"Just who are you?" Sora asked. "I know I've said this before, but you are not Roxas."

"Yeah, I know." He shrugged. "It'd be better to say that Roxas was us, but while we're arguing, your friends are dying."

"So let me out of here." Sora snarled.

"What, so you can do that heartless transformation again?" He asked. "Not a chance. In case you haven't noticed, this is a nice place." The man who wasn't Roxas pointed out. "I like it here, but I probably won't if it turns black." He grinned maliciously. "And neither will she."

Sora sighed. "I won't let the darkness control me." He stated. "My heart's strong enough for that."

"Funny, because I remember one idiot saying the same thing once." The blond chuckled. "Wanna know what happened to him?" He asked. "You killed him. Twice."

"Xeanhort..?" Sora asked.

"Almost." The blonde laughed. "But Xeanhort was long dead by the time you got to him. You just fought what was left."

Sora clenched his fist. "This is getting me nowhere." He said.

"No, it's not." Replied the other. "That's because you have no idea what you're doing."

Sora stopped dead. "Darkness will infect any heart that tries to use it." The blonde explained. "No exceptions, that is a fact. No matter how strong a heart is, eventually it will give way if it keeps letting the darkness in. But that's where I come in."

"What?" Sora asked.

"My heart is already corrupted black beyond return." The blonde young man stated. "So all you need to do is let me handle the darkness, and I'll give you my power."

"Not a chance." Sora refused. "You'll try to take over my body, won't you."

The other laughed whole-heartedly. "Of course I want your body!" He shouted. "But at least you know I'm trying to take it." He pointed out. "And I won't try to sneak behind your back to get it, I've got my pride there."

Sora thought about it for a second. "And just to sweeten the deal, I'll even teach you all about the Keyblades." The blonde young man offered. "Stuff that mouse should've told you a long time ago."

"Tell me one thing." Sora decided. "What is your name."

The blonde grinned. "Vanitas."

* * *

Riku struggled to get to his feet, but was forced down once again by the sheer weight of Kefka's presence. He forced his chin up and tried again, but his jaw dropped when he saw Sora stand to his feet without any difficulty.

What's more, the darkness had left Sora completely. How was he…

Riku grunted as Sora removed the Two Across keychain from the Keyblade, returning its form to that of the Kingdom Key. Sora then held the Keyblade in his right hand and held out his left as a second Kingdom Key appeared.

Then, Sora's right hand was surrounded by a blinding light, his left with a black shadow, as Sora lifted the weapons in front of him and crossed their blades. Blue spikes burst from the point where the two blades intersected, and a golden sword burst from the end, forming as large and powerful weapon.

Sora tossed it lightly before catching it with both hands and getting into a stance, his hand gripping the two middle hand-guards, which had now formed into one handle. "Let's go big guy!" Sora taunted, leaping into the air at the ascended madman.

He sliced through Kefka with ease. The battle was over before it even began.

* * *

After the battle, Sora divided his two keyblades again, then pointed one at the sky and one at the earth. A beam of light burst from each one, and the sky returned blue, the land regenerating itself. Once everything was once again as it was, Sora grinned at his friends.

"You guys are not going to believe what I've found out."

* * *

Sora explained things to Riku and Kairi. Lots of things.

He told of the Keyblade Academy of old.

He told about the Keyblade's origin, that there are as many Keyblades as there are hearts capable of creating them.

He explained how Riku inherited Xion's Keyblade, and passed Roxas's Keyblade onto Kairi.

He explained how Xemnas came to be, and how he formed the organisation

He explained the Keyblade war, and how it consumed the worlds with darkness and suffering.

He explained how he knew these things, and who had given Sora the second Keyblade.

Riku didn't like it.

"Sora…" Riku said. "Don't trust Vanitas."

"I don't." Sora replied. "But I'm going to use him."

"No." Riku demanded. "You need to seal him away, deep inside of your heart. Vanitas is the greatest evil ever unleashed upon the world."

"What're you talking about?" Sora asked.

"The king told me about him in confidence." Riku explained. "And that Keyblade you used, the X-Blade? It has more potential for destruction then any Kingdom Hearts."

"Then it's a good thing I'm the one using it and not Typhoon." Sora replied smugly. "Remember that he needs to be taken care of."

Kairi was still concerned, but she trusted Sora. "Alright." She nodded. "But, just be careful, alright?"

Sora tilted his head. "Of course I will." He told her.

* * *

"You really scared her you know."

Sora turned to Riku in the dim light of the Gummi ship's cockpit. "When you came out of the rubble with all that darkness around you, we all feared the worst."

"I've used Anti-form before." Sora pointed out, almost flippantly. "Darkness is a quick road to power, but it can consume you, while Light is just as likely to blind you to the truth."

"You're somewhat philosophical lately." Riku pointed out. "What's up?"

"Nothing really." Sora lied, steering around an asteroid. "It's just that the closer you get to the light, the greater your shadow becomes I suppose."

Inside Sora's heart, Vanitas laughed.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

Yeah, I think I'll end it there.

It's a shame though, there's a lot of things I won't get to do now. I had planned all sorts of crazy crap for this story, such as:

Sora and Riku entering Kairi's heart to save her soul, finding the embodiment of her dependence on Sora, so Sora fights that alone while Riku saved Kairi, making her depend less and less on Sora.

Sora going so far to darkness that he dies

Sora earning redemption by becoming a soul reaper

Sora betraying soul society by saving his current target, Kairi, and then coming back to life.

Warriors of Twilight tricking Sora into destroying the world of light and the world of darkness so they can reform it as one world order.

Sora having to go on a huge man-hunt to find a keyblade wielder terrorist known as 'Dragoon'.

Several epic wars

And much, much more.

Unfortunately, this story, both in my head and on paper, has died.

Before the panic hits in, that won't happen to For Every Soul. For one thing, that already has a large lynch mob ready to kill me if I don't finish that story, and I've got too much invested in that one for it to die.

Hell, _that_ story will be epic. Actually, it's already beyond epic. We're gonna have to think up new words when I come back in two years.

So, enjoy! If any of you feel like continuing this story, ask Ravenwingcorps!


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